#i've known dogs who were straight up people and she's not one of those

[spoonyruncible]

.

I always forget that sometimes I get medically sick in a way that makes no sense but is also dramatically debilitating. Dramatically. Like, I sleep sixteen hours at a time, I have all the symptoms of a high fever with no fever, my stomach is ruined, I become moderately delirious, my anxiety spikes, and my whole body breaks out in a rash that looks a lot like measles. This lasts anywhere between four days to five weeks.

I dunno, I figure at some point I just kind of accepted it happens and that no one would ever help me. But I also kind of just put it in the back of my mind all the time because there doesn't seem to be any fixing or predicting it. Heat seems to, if not bring it on, at least make it significantly worse as I begin my Agonies ( I call this phenomenon my Agonies) by sweating so constantly that I am stickier than a lint roller and twice as miserable. There are chills, of course, there are always chills.

But the thing is that, through the joint pain and the extreme exhaustion, through the sweat slick fever mist, I always make sure my dog gets her goddamn walkies.

At the end of the day I'm the sort of a thing that's just going to feel bad rather a lot of the time. Much of this is no one's fault. But Rose doesn't know any of that, she just wants to sprint through the hot July air eating all the moths she can catch. And what I know is that, before she came to me, she was dumped in a crate full of her puppies which means that the most important reason for me is to make sure this stupid little animal is happy and loved no matter how terrible I feel. And I have felt terrible. I've missed two weeks of appointments, only barely made it to the pharmacy today (and my pharmacist had worried about me), and just kinda got by with the groceries I had on hand. But I'm not letting down my dog. I can't do shit to look after me, but I can haul my miserable corpse upright long enough to take care of dog.

#i am ninety percent sure i am on the tail end of it #also as a bonus i didn't get any hallucinations this time #personal post #i think that goes without saying really #i am very small and i have no money #but i actually do keep rose pretty well in toys and snacks #this is seriously the best dog I've ever met #i've known dogs who were straight up people and she's not one of those #she's just a highly compressed pit bull #and when she's happy she will run at me do a kickflip off my chest and then turn it into a barrel roll and repeat #i love her so very much #when i first met her she was scared of everything all the time and cried and cried and cried even when i shut the bathroom door #she still hates when i leave but now she's a proper terror #oh also she ate my thermometer #i was in the bathroom for two minutes and she ate it #i.... am actually still very sick #but i did make it to the pharmacy! #so that's a win #also groceries i have on hand is not as concerning as it sounds #i have food issues so i always have apocalypse bunker level supplies #i am never gonna go hungry #not on my fucking watch #that is fucking over and done with #not living no place where i'm afraid to eat #just ignore this as i am plainly still in the throes of delirium

[rainsoakedphoenix]

cuddling

pairing: plus size f!reader x matt sturniolo

wc: ~1k

warnings: mentions of weight, self-consciousness, and anxiety; crying

requested?: yes!

hii! could i req chris or matt with a slightly more chubby girl that struggles to cuddle bc she feels big and they comfort her?

i hope you like this! - please please please let me know if i need to change something. i never want myself or my content to be offensive in any way

you and your boyfriend matt walked through the park hand in hand, a gentle breeze blowing through your hair as the new fall season made itself known. it was your favorite time of year, and matt's as well. the cooler weather, the beautiful orange and brown leaves, and pumpkin spice everything. but the one thing you really looked forward to once the fall season hit were the clothes.

weight is something you have struggled with for a while, and you always saw cooler weather as the perfect opportunity to cover up more in hopes others wouldn't take notice of something that was always at the forefront of your mind when you looked in the mirror.

you always felt eyes on you when you were out in public, always felt like people were secretly judging you, even if you knew realistically no one was actually paying attention. it always made you feel anxious and self-conscious anyway, and you'd find yourself rushing to get your errands done so you could be back in the privacy of your own home, with no one's thoughts but your own.

you've never told matt how you felt, though. you felt certain he knew why you'd carefully pull away from him when he tries to hug you goodbye, or when he wanted to cuddle with you after a long day. you felt certain, but you didn't know for sure, truthfully. you'd pretend you didn't notice what he was trying to do, so you'd never spot the look of sadness on his face each time.

you sigh and run a hand through your hair, deciding that you had kept your feelings bottled up long enough. you weren't sure if this was the place to talk about it, but you figured it was better to get it all out now while you had the courage. after all, if anyone should know what you're going through, it's him. he's your partner, and the one who's supposed to help you through times like these.

you noticed him glance at you in your peripheral vision, before looking back at the path in front of you. "is everything okay, my love?"

you nodded, taking a deep breath. "can we sit down? there's something i want to talk to you about." you glance at him once as you speak before looking back at the ground underneath your feet. you don't see him nod, but he begins to lead you to a bench beneath a towering oak tree, holding your hand as you take a seat before sitting down himself.

he patiently waits for you to speak, noticing how down you seem. he rubs encouraging and comforting circles on the back of your hand with his thumb as he waits, eyes going back and forth between your own and your intertwined hands.

you slowly look straight ahead after a few moments, looking at other couples or those that are playing frisbee with their dogs, trying to distract yourself from the topic. "i've been avoiding cuddling with you because i can't shake the feeling of being too big."

you immediately felt a little better at having gotten it off your chest, but now you were a little embarrassed at your words. a part of you was just waiting for him to agree with you, or laugh at you, or maybe even break up with you. you knew matt would never judge you like that, but you still couldn't help but to let those thoughts cross your mind.

"oh, my sweet girl," he says softly, voice laced with compassion just as you had looked down to let a tear fall. he squeezes your hand tighter in his, his other hand gently grasping and pulling your chin to ensure your eyes landed on his. to ensure you would hear what he was about to say.

"baby, you are perfect just the way you are. your size doesn't define your worth or my love for you."

you sniffled, eyes looking between his two blue ones and glistening with more tears. "i just can't help but feel self-conscious."

"listen to me," he says, his voice steady and firm yet gentle and reassuring. "i understand that you feel self-conscious, but i want you to know that your body is a part of you that i adore entirely. when i look at you, i don't see numbers on a scale or flaws. i see the warmth and the love you show everyone around you. i see the unique beauty that radiates from every part of you. your size has nothing to do with it."

letting the now happy tears flow a bit more freely with a small smile growing on your face, you felt a flicker of hope from within you as his words sank in. you knew your insecurity would never go away just like that, but matt's unwavering support and understanding had only began to wash away some of the negative feelings that had plagued your mind for far too long.

"i'm sorry, i should've told you soo-"

"no, hey, you have nothing to apologize for," he shakes his head, staring deeply into your eyes as both hands now rest on either side of your face.

"i want you to feel safe and comfortable around me, love. your body is beautiful because it's a part of you, and i love every part of you. i want to be there for you. i'm sorry i didn't make you feel like you could tell me."

with a renewed sense of courage and as a way to tell him he's forgiven, you gently pull his arms away from your face and wrap your own arms around him.

he hesitates for a moment, unsure if you're really okay with him doing the same. "can i hold you?"

you simply nod, holding him a little tighter as you feel an arm rest ever so gently on your head, the other wrapping around your upper back. he places a kiss on the side of your head, before burying his head in your neck to place a few kisses there as well.

"i love you," he whispers. "nothing will ever change that."

#rainsoakedphoenix #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #matt sturniolo x reader

[yjwhatif]

YJ EPISODE 23 SPOILER NOTES… only three episodes left 😣

First off I would like to start proceedings with the following statement… ED IS NOT IN THIS EPISODE AND THAT IS A CRIME!… okay move on to what was actually in the episode…

Its that lizard kid from Cuba

Oh no Wilhelms leading the mob

Brion returns with a new suit and team... including Papa Smurf - thats Now two Metas who were at Taos last season (and yet there's no Ed in this episode)

So Wilhelm's a Meta? Or is it Everyman has been pretending to be Wilhelm?

New look for violet - looking lovely in pink

Violet can now levitate other things - Could they be one of the most powerful character in the series?

That is exactly how one should go up the stairs when in the presence of a friend who can levitate stuff

I very much prefer this Harper - it just shows how capable a person is to change when given the love and support they deserve from a stable home environment. She genuinely seems happy.

Wait, Harper was actually dating someone? I figured she was just lying about that... Y 'know what, the less we discuss that event the better

Yay for Harper actually communicating her feelings whilst also not pushing for Violet to immediately reciprocate (It kinda reminds me of Imogen in Heartstopper)

The confess feelings and run away move

Ooh that eyebrow raise at the mention of M’gann - I really think she's the only one capable of bringing Conner back from this

That is serious commitment to your cause - sticking your hard straight into boiling lava!

“I've pledged my loyalty to Zod” - Oh no - that's not good.

“you mean, you'll do them like you did your uncle" - Brions reaction to this is so interesting - he doesn't show anger or disrespect - he's taken aback in a way that almost shows hurt or regret at now being known for such a thing

Love seeing Fury noticing something isn't right with Baazovi

TAOS mention! (yet no Ed in the episode!)

This episode's really gonna go and convince me that I was wrong for hating on Brion, isn't it? Baazovi is really swaying peoples opinions - Brion is showing genuinely reasonable thinking and clearly wants the best for his people and Metas -but he's never going to achieve those desire while he remains under the thumb of Baazovi and the light.

WE RETURN TO TAOS! (And yet we still have No Ed in this episode!)

Group therapy session with Dinah - bring it on. I've said this before but I do like how much we’re actually seeing of the mental health check in sessions and now in more forms than just one on one. The fact that everyone is so open with each other here emphasises how these sessions must have been going on for a while in the background for everyone to be so comfortable with each other.

So we have 3 outsiders, 2 Team-ers, 1 Leaguer, and Gar - I like that there's a range of people at the session

Vic & Violet’s friendship is great - I kinda always forget that its a thing and then they have moments that remind me - and then I'm like - oh ye, Violet literally saved his life so many times and that meant a lot to him.

I just had to look this up - but I did not realise Lia was supposed to be Scottish!

"Gee, I wonder who that could be?” I love this more chilled out Tara - She's fun.

"Who we talking about?"" You don't have to give us a name" - Dinah trying to reign in the teens

Dinah truly is awesome!

GET JACE OFF MY SCREEN RIGHT NOW! I HATE HER AND EVERY WORD THAT ESCAPES HER MOUTH! She is Umbridge level evil!

Stop brainwashing the kid! And get him away from Jace!

"I do not like the look of this" - there may be hope for Brion - If we can just get him away from Baazovi - hopefully Fury can help with that

"Please, say nothing!"… *Conner immediately snitches* — Well, I guess now we know why Dick never told Conner any of the secret plans

Markovia really is a mess - that poor minister guy

Callback to the start of Z's arc

Poor Dick - he's losing everything

Wingman is freaking adorable!

Dinah's face at the idea of Gar doing his business outside as a dog

Oh Leslie seriously has the feels for Andi - are we gonna final get some confirmation on these two?

Gars making some serious improvements and we love him for it! He's doing the time and committing to the work

“I know I'm not ready for the outsiders right now” - It'll be interesting to see how the Bart and Conner situations may/may not effect that decision.

"She can get us out!?" - They just got very intense very quickly

"She won’t take you…She hates you - called you a tyrant" - The betrayal on Phantom Girls face! Conner stop talking!

First time seeing how the Zods respond to someone who opposes them

"You will kneel before Zod"

Phantom Girl crying as she leaves Conner behind - and when you consider the commitment she made to save him from the explosion in the first place - putting her hand in literal lava - you can really feel for her now

That scream of pain

That shot of Brion alone in his throne in complete silence really highlights how isolated he's become by following this path

The genuine look of happiness Brion has at seeing Violet - I'm really feeling for Brion in a way I did not expect!

Halo's got a costume redesign and I love the new style - the only thing I don't really like is the purple that's still on the hood - it just doesn't go with the red, Yellow and blue that's now on the body. I don't think it would bother me as much if there was some other purple bits else where - like on the hand and feet bits that are now red, or even a slight purple outline at either side of the rainbow. Other than that I really like it - it really shows that they are taking control of all aspects of their life - which is great!

“I missed you!”

I like this conversation that they having

PISS OFF BAAZOVI!

You tell him Vi!

"I have continued my journey but you are still stuck where I left you a year ago!" → Which highlights an interesting parallel between the scenes at Taos and those in Markovia - Dinah stressed the fact that everyone there was in complete control of the experience they had there - no one was being told what to do or how to do it - they guide each other but ultimately make their own choice on how to progress. As we see from both gar and violet, this makes for a really positive experience which helps a person change for a better. Where as with Brion, he's surrounded by those who are manipulating him, making his choices and tricking him into believing they are his own - he's stuck in the same state he was in a year ago because he has no control in his own kingdom or in being his own person - he's basically a puppet tied in place with no way to brake free. The can't progress because he isn't allowed to - and so he'll remain stuck until he finds a way to gain some control back in his life... though I doubt that's gonna happen any time soon.

SHUT UP BAAZOVI!

You tell him Brion!

Fury + Brion confiding in each other... though I just had a horrible feeling of what if one of them isn't who they appear to be?!

Violets finally moving on

"TA-DAH!" hey that's Bart’s thing!

Why is the image of a gremlin hugging a packet of Chicken Whizees so adorable?

"Hope you enjoy them!" Grumpy Grayson

"I hate keeping secrets" No you don't! I appreciate that Kaldur gives him the side eye at that - there is absolutely no one who believes you Dick

I do get why they're not involving M’gann - though I do think she's the only one who will be able to actually save Conners mind

"Feeding you my power" - again calling back to Zs arc

"Next Stop, the Phantom Zone"

The Hall of Justice is finally getting rebuilt?!… I wonder how long it’s gonna take for that to get blown again… maybe keep the youngsters away from it this time?

I love all the little cheers of Celebration - "Neptunes Beard!"

So while there was no Ed content ☹️ or anymore Bart development - which I had a feeling might happen - this was still a seriously enjoyable episode and it really had a season 1 vibe about it - at least to me it did anyway. I did not expect what we got with Brion but I did actually like seeing it and realising he’s maybe not the evil villain I was expecting him to be. It’s actually kinda sad how controlled he is. In contrast, it makes me really happy to see how much Violet has grown whilst on their journey of self discovery and seeing how much control and confidence they now have is a really uplifting sight to see. Bring on the next episode!

LB

#my random thoughts #long post #young justice #yj #young justice phantoms #yj s4 spoilers #yj spoilers #yj season 4 #brion markov #geoforce #violet harper #garfield logan #conner kent #superboy #phantom girl #nightwing #zatanna zatara #kaldur'ahm #artemis crock #raquel ervin

[gryfflepuffinthetardis]

Rose and Lillie - Supernova

Note: Bits have been taken from the "Rose" Novelization by Russel T. Davis in 2018, I've rewritten the parts I felt could be rewritten but still have no ownership; those words are either in italics, bold, or in the chat text style (unless I forgot to do it). I only own Lillie Tyler and Nova and their storylines.

Warnings: Death, Violence, Violently Protective Younger Sister, Overprotective Family, Donna Noble missing an invasion.

Datsuzoku — Japanese — Noun — To escape from the daily routine; to take a break from the conventions of one's life; to discover more creativity and perceive your surroundings differently.

"I am tired of pretending I'm fine to those around me, I've never felt more dead in my entire life."

Nineteen-year-old Rose Tyler woke up on the most ordinary day in her very pink room, not knowing that her life was about to change forever. She would often wonder, many years later, standing on the shore of a different universe, about to witness the biggest heartbreak of her life, whether she had missed any signs on that day, long ago. Presentiments of the dangers and joys to come. A lowering sky, perhaps. Distant lightning. Dogs barking at thin air. A fearful old woman staring at her from across the street. But no. It was simply a Friday. Her alarm went off at seven-thirty.

She knew her schedule—shower, have yogurt, wake up her little sister, argue with her mother about the electricity bill or with her sister about her paper assignments scattered all over the flat, walk her sister to the bus stop, and then walk to work.

--

Princess Supernova of Elder glared at the young Time Lord who would one day choose the name “the Doctor” and his standoffish attitude (that was hiding his immense anxiety as he had spent a lot of time crying in the barn of his orphanage lately as this day had grown closer) and then she punched him in the face in front of the whole of Gallifrey’s Academy. The young boy who would one day choose the name “The Master” but now was known by his nickname, “Koschei” let out an impressed and disbelieving chuckle as the Doctor turned back to her in shock, holding his jaw that would soon sport a bruise.

She smirked and stuck out her hand, "Hi, I'm Princess Supernova."

He stared at her for a few shocked moments, he made eye contact with Koschei who was still grinning.

Lillie Tyler was awoken by her sister, Rose Tyler banging on her door. "It’s time for school, Lillie!”

She heard Lillie let out a nasal, overdramatic groan, which vaguely resembled a dying cat parade. “Naaaaaaaaaaggghhh!” which roughly translated in went-to-bed-at-two-in-the-morning-Lillie as, “Don’t make me get out of bed! I’m allergic to sunlight and socializing and dumb people which is everyone at my school including the teachers! Especially the teachers!”

Rose showed no facial expression, indicating that this was unusual behavior for her little sister.

“Don’t make me sent Mum in there!”

“I’m getting up! I’m getting up!” The younger Tyler sister groaned and then rolled over, pulling all the blankets with her as she rolled off the bed.

Lillie stood up, pushing the blankets off her, revealing her hair to be a brunette frizzy mess and her gray-tinted blue eyes bleary with sleep. She rubbed her eyes and got ready for the day.

She and her older sister, Rose Tyler moved in their usual routine. You wouldn't think it by looking at them that they were sisters as Rose had straight blonde hair and green eyes and Lillie had curly chocolate brown hair and blue eyes.

Rose had dropped out of school when she was sixteen while Lillie was exceptionally bright and liked to think of herself as an empathetic Sherlock Holmes.

When Rose was in school, Lillie was a grade behind her even though she was only six months younger. Lillie was still in school, in her last year, she had wild amounts of potential, in between and after her high school classes, she even took advanced classes—college-level advanced classes that were hard for college students and sometimes even professionals—but she had no ambition or confidence in herself.  She occasionally questioned her own sanity as she still believes she met a man with a stupidly long scarf and a woman with purple hair with a magic box that could travel through time and space that was bigger on the inside.

She and Rose left their house, walking side by side before splitting at the bus stop, accustomed to this routine.

--

Throughout school, she stared into nothingness as she was bored out of her mind. Boredom. That's all she really felt her whole life... except when she met the Doctor and Nova and Sarah Jane Smith. When she was dealing with that "Weeping Angel" she had been scared but she felt alive, more alive than she had ever felt. She'd give anything to feel that again. This September she was supposed to go to the University of Cambridge to study astronomy, cosmology, and quantum physics. That's all she wanted, to reach the stars; that'll be the next best thing as it seemed that they were never coming back for her.

She didn’t really have friends at school, they regarded her as weird and abnormal. She had one school friend, one who was intelligent and resourceful, more than any of the other students, the brilliant Lars South-Woods; they became friends and Lillie had fallen hard, they dated for a year before Lars was given an internship at… well, Lars wouldn’t tell Lillie where but she caught a glimpse of the name, it was two words put together but she only made out a “T” and a “W” but then Lars had caught her nearly had a freakout and Lillie realized if she didn’t want to get yelled at to run. Lars and she had broken up on mutual terms with the promise to stay friends but she was alone again.

“Miss Tyler?” Her teacher asked. Well, it wasn’t her teacher but a professor whose class she audited she had been taking these classes since she was twelve years old when she started outsmarting the teachers by calculating things in multiple dimensions. Some of the professors tried to trip her up but she often both outsmarted them and confused them, like when she kept only referring to “Quantum Entanglement” as Einstein’s name for it, “Spooky action at a distance” even in her papers. She was acknowledging the theory brilliantly but only used that term, simply because according to her when her mother confusingly asked her about it, not understanding a lick of it, was because, “it’s funnier to say.”

“Why did a genius such as Albert Einstein consider Quantum Entanglement impossible?”

Lillie just looked up boredly at her and said, “Well, spooky action at a distance is the phenomenon by which one particle can effectively ‘know’something about another particle instantaneously, even if they are on opposite sides of the galaxy. Einstein argued that this violates the local realism view of causality which is the cause of a physical change must be local—that is, a thing is changed only if it is physically touched, he argued at nothing could move faster than the speed of light, not even information. This idea absolutely rattled the physicist and he never accepted it. But it doesn’t at least, not to our knowledge, experiments show that quantum physics can be used to send faster-than-light communication, whether this theory is true is not truly known to this day and may be that way for quite a while. Most physicists today accept spooky action at a distance as a real phenomenon, based on many experiments that confirm it. They also argue that it does not allow for faster-than-light communication, because the measurement outcomes are random and cannot be controlled or predicted.”

She said this with the utmost causality as if explaining what color the sky was.

“What do you think?”

“I think nothing is faster than light.” She said with a slight smirk as if she knew something she didn’t. Well, not consciously.

“Y-yes, well, once again, Miss Tyler, it’s called ‘Quantum Entanglement’.” The professor said.

Lillie sighed and slumped back in her seat before dropping her head on the table, typical, scienctists always wanted to make everything straightforward and never have any fun. The people who had fun never liked Lillie, they found her weird and the people she almost fit in with were no fun.

She and Rose had been promised this year would be better. A promise made on New Year’s Eve by a complete stranger. She and Rose had been heading across the estate before Lillie got sick from the cold, when a man—some drunk the girls assumed—had asked out to the sisters out to her from the shadows, by the bins. He’d asked them what year it was. It had just chimed midnight, so Lillie told him it was 2005. His face was lost in darkness and snow but somehow she heard him smile as he repeated the year, there was a certain weight to his words that Lillie still thought a lot about, and then he said, “I bet you're going to have a really great year.” He had spoken in a southern Estuary English accent and she could make out the silhouette of his sticky-uppy hair.

Yeah. Sure.

“Never trust a drunk in the dark.” Jackie told that to Rose and Lillie when they were young and Rose still continuously told Lillie this as if they were her own words of wisdom, especially after Jimmy Stone. Lillie never did, not that she had many chances to be around drunks with her rather introverted personality.

But the funny thing was, she did trust him. And so did Rose against all sense of logic. That stranger. There was something about his voice, the way he said it, like he was saying it only for them. He had looked directly at Lillie as if he was applying it more to Lillie than Rose. Somehow, out of all the nonsense the sisters had ever heard from drunken men, they remembered his words.

So Rose and Lillie Tyler kept waiting.

After school, she walked to Rose's work after school, she was just so tired of everyday life. She knew Rose was too, despite never having to talk about it but what could they do about it?

Rose told her that she needed to give Wilson the lottery money at her work and Lillie offered to stay up in the store.

Rose let a sarcastic laugh and said, “Not a chance in hell.” She grabbed her hand and pulled her to the elevator. “Blimey, Lils, you’re eighteen and have been taking genius advanced university classes for six years, it’s just a lift!”

“Ugh, you sound like Mum!” Lillie groaned.

They got on the elevator of the building and went down the elevator shaft.

Wilson was known for being a creep, Rose had caught him eyeing her little sister at times but he wasn’t so dumb to make a move after witnessing Jackie scream at and slap a drunk who had hit on her in the store soon after Rose started working at Hendrick’s and it was immediately followed by Rose doing the same thing while Lillie just blushed, mortified with her arms crossed. So he knew both Rose and Jackie wouldn’t hesitate to slap the living day lights out of him and then there was the story of what Lillie did to Rose’s ex-boyfriend, Jimmy Stone, allegedly, she had somehow hunted him down to Amsterdam when seven full hours away from London by car—and Lillie didn’t own a car or a driver’s license, she had been fifteen years old and allegedly slashed his tires and keyed his car and all of his band equipment was mysteriously stolen and then he was found by the police with his bass drum broken over him, trapping him with a convenient list of proof of his petty crimes just for them which landed him in prison for eighteen months. There had been no proof that Lillie had done it but Rose suspected otherwise.

They stepped out of the elevator and Rose looked down the hall, "Wilson!" The sisters looked at each other before venturing down a hall, "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson, are you there?" The eldest knocked on Wilson's office door but there was no answer. "I can't hang about cause they're closing the shop. Wilson!"

The two sisters heard a clattering down the hall and the sisters looked at each other and they followed the noise with Rose taking the lead; Wilson was known for being a bit of creep.

Rose has always been overprotective of her and Lillie was for her. Rose’s earliest memory was when she was about a year and a half year old, most don’t have memories form the first three years of their life but this memory always stuck to her because Lillie had gotten really sick during the winter, Jackie had cried as she had feared Lillie would die so soon after Pete but Lillie made it through. It turned out it was a really bad case of pneumonia; apparently Lillie had some aversion to cold weather, it made her particularly vulnerable to illnesses such as the common cold or the flu, which was especially dangerous as she not even a year old at that time. They had been told that while most one-year-old’s immune systems were stronger than people thought, usually maturing somewhere between two and three months but Lillie’s immune system just was maturing more slowly, making her vulnerable to the cold.

Rose remembered getting out of her tiny toddler bed and walking to her sister’s room, being quiet as her mom chattered away on the phone.

“I swear, I’m only twenty-one and she’s giving me gray hairs…”

Rose snuck into her sister’s room and pulled the step ladder thing she used to peer over the crib and she saw her sister asleep, she was hugging a stuffed star, fists pale as she clung onto it for dear life as she slept on her side with her cheek all smushed from lying on the stuffed star, she had curly chocolate brown hair, a vast contrast of her mother and sister’s straighter blonde hair.

Toddler Rose didn’t say anything, she just looked at her little sister. At her young age, Rose had been aware her sister was in danger, Jackie had been crying in the hospital as Mickey and his parents and grandmother were there. Odessa and Jackson had been comforting Jackie while Mickey and Rita-Anne sat with her.

Baby Lillie then opened her eyes, revealing brilliant blue eyes, looking up at her older sister with much more intelligence than an eleven-month-old should have.

Toddler Rose smiled down at her sister, she reached down and felt Baby Lillie take her hand.

“I promise to protect you.” The one-year-old Rose Tyler promised. “Forever.” To this day, Rose recalls that day as the first time she promised to protect Lillie and she never failed to live up to that promise and it had become her instinct to protect Lillie before herself.

"Hello? W-Wilson?" She pushed a door open, the sisters entering a very dark room, revealing a huge room of mannequins. The eldest Tyler sister ventured into the room, closely.

"Right, let's just go for a stroll into the room full of nightmares," Lillie muttered before following her sister to a red door that said: Estates Management Department Access: Restricted to Authorized Personnel Only when the door they came in closed shut.

The sisters ran to the door, trying to pull it open but it seemed to be locked.

"You're kidding me." Rose muttered as Lillie kicked the door.

They heard more clanking behind them.

"Is that someone mucking about?" Rose called.

"Who is it?" Lillie called as they wandered further into the nightmare room.

They heard creaking and turned to see a male mannequin looking at them. Lillie saw the mannequin stepping out towards them, Rose grabbed Lillie's arm, pulling her back.

"Yeah, you got me. Very funny." Rose said, her voice slightly shaky, she sensed danger but didn't want to accept it but was still wary of the danger Lillie was in.

A second mannequin behind the first moved, then a third.

"Right, I've got the joke. "Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's? Is it? Derek, is this you?" Lillie pulled Rose away from the increasing number of moving mannequins, Rose stumbled over a box as Lillie backed into a wall with Rose joining her. The sisters clasped each other's hands tightly.

The lead mannequin raised its arm as if going to karate chop them; Rose noticed in a brief glint of light, dark liquid on the dummy’s hand… she hoped it was oil or paint… but she doubted it… Rose pushed Lillie behind her, shielding her with her body, though it wouldn’t be much use… Rose closed her eyes, bracing for impact, letting out a few soft whimpers of fear but refusing to do anything other than live up to her promise. Lillie stared up at the dummies over Rose’s shoulder with a glare, her compass locket given to her five years ago glowed colors of a rageful red, a protective turquoise, a flowery pink that an Elder would recognize for the fierceness of sisterly love but then before the glow became noticeable a man reached out of the darkness and grabbed Rose and Lillie’s joined hands, and with that and one word changing the sisters' lives forever.

"Run."

It was a bald man around his early-to-mid forties with big ears, wearing a t-shirt and a leather jacket.

He pulled Rose and Lillie out of the way, and the three ran through the basement as the mannequins followed until they got to the lift. One of the mannequins grabbed Lillie's hair and tried to pull her back out. Suddenly some unknown instinct kicked in and she spun, grabbing the arm and pulling it off in one fell swoop and the elevator doors closed on the mannequins.

"I..." She drawled out in shock, backing into the elevator wall next to her sister. "...Pulled its arm off."

The man stared at Lillie in shock for a few long moments. She looked just like her, just with brown hair and blue eyes. She even had a similar fashion style. Graphic tee, plaid skirt, jeans, boots.

"What?" Lillie asked, looking down, she hated when people looked at her for what she felt was too long, she felt like they were judging her and while she ultimately didn't care about the opinion of people who were usually too invested in their own lives to consider other people or only did it to feel better about themselves, it hurt nonetheless, not that she would ever admit that.

The man shook his head as if shaking out of a trance, denying something in his head. "Yep. Plastic." He covered up his shock. There would roughly be about six people in the world who would look like her, nonetheless the universe.

"Very clever. Nice trick! Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?" Rose asked.

"Why would they be students?" He asked, curiously, almost as if he were testing her.

"I don't know..." Rose trailed off, feeling flustered suddenly.

"Well, you said it. Why students?" He prompted.

"Cause to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students." Rose mumbled, she felt shameful that she had froze up in a crisis, she had just acted as a shield for her sister, lot good that would do before they would’ve gotten to her.

"That makes sense. Well done." He smiled.

"Thanks."

"They're not students."

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police." Rose said, sternly.

"Who's Wilson?" The man asked.

"Chief electrician."

“Slash-caretaker.” Lillie mumbled.

"Wilson's dead." He said simply.

The lift beeped, announcing that they had reached their destination and they walked out.

"That's just not funny." Rose exclaimed.

"That's sick!" Lillie scoffed. The man noted that this brunette had a different accent than she did. It had been Australian.

"Hold on. Mind your eyes." He took out a sonic screwdriver, it was different than the one she had seen her Doctor with.

Doctor. It was her Doctor but with a different face. Like in her dreams. But… where was Nova?

"I've had enough of this now!" Rose complained, the sisters truly did get Jackie's attitude. Sparks emitted from lift mechanism as he continued to ignore most of Rose's questions, "Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?"

"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He produced what seemed to be a small bomb, "So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you two go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast." He opened a door and pushed the sisters through it, Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed." He shut the door.

Doctor. The name appeared in her head and she knew that was who he was.

The man opened the door and opened his mouth to speak but Lillie had spoken, "You're the Doctor, aren't you?"

He blinked at her like he couldn't believe it.

"How did you know?"

"Umm... I don't..." She mumbled, lamely. It couldn't be him. Those were just dreams. Right?

"What's your names?" He asked, narrowing his blue eyes but not in a bad way, but more in a curious way.

"Rose."

"Lillie."

"Nice to meet you, Rose, Lillie. Run for your lives!"

Rose, still holding the mannequin arm, grabbed Lillie's hand and pulled her out of the building onto the street, Lillie pulled Rose back before she became a questionable hood ornament of a car.

"Watch it!" The man shouted.

The sisters looked at one another as they made it to the sidewalk.

KABOOM!

A huge fireball took out the upper floor of Rose's job, making Rose flinch while Lillie just tilted her head. Rose ran straight past an out-of-date police telephone box, Lillie however, stumbled to a stop and the brunette turned to look at it, she walked up to the blue wooden box and went to touch it but stopped when Rose shouted for her and Lillie ran after her.

The Tardis warbled, recognizing the soul of the girl who had tried to touch her, well, the fact that she was the same girl who dressed as Sherlock.

--

The neighbors applauded when the sisters returned much to Lillie’s embarrassment as she pulled her hoodie over her head and then their mother burst out of their flat, resembling five foot tall blonde and denim missile.

Rose flinched and Lillie paused, observing her mother’s mood, trying to decipher, if they’d get a hug or a slap.

A hug. A hug that nearly knocked Lillie off the ground and brought her mother down with her but they managed not to as Jackie squeezed the living daylights out of the sisters.

Jackie Tyler, five-foot-nothing, age—not relevant (thirty-six, but she’d never admit it), karaoke champion of the spinning wheel, life and soul of the party (which birthed Jackie’s eighteen-year-old joke of how she could be Lillie’s mother since she was the opposite) but a monumental lightning storm when angry(which was proof that she was Lillie’s mother), now sobbing and laughing and somehow finding a reason to give Rose a punch on the arm while still nearly strangling her youngest.

“YOU STUPID GIRL!”

“Why am I stupid!?” Rose asked.

“You just are!”

Then she found a reason to get angry at her youngest, “What are you doing out here in the cold! You’ll get hypo-pneumonia!”

“That’s not a thing, Mum!” Lillie protested as Jackie dragged her back to the flat, waving to the neighbors as though she had single-handedly rescued her daughters herself, “It’s ‘hypothermia’ and ‘pneumonia’!

As she dragged her youngest inside as if she were blue from the cold as her oldest, thankful for not being Jackie’s center of attention at the moment, quietly entered as Jackie wittered on, “What would I do if you left! All these textbooks lying about!” To be fair, a bunch of Lillie’s textbooks were at random places, including in the freezer as Jackie had found that morning for some reason and a bunch of her papers were scattered about.

Soon Jackie switched to going on the phone to talk to seemingly everyone she had ever known, as the sisters watched the news, "The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire. Early reports indicate..."

Jackie walked out of the kitchen, still on the phone, "I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. They're lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged them. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was their daughter. Oh, and here's them."

Mickey, Rose's boyfriend entered the apartment, "I've been phoning your mobiles. You two could've been dead. It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!""

"We're all right, honestly!" Rose said.

"We're fine! Don't make a fuss." Lillie agreed.

"Well, what happened?"

"I don't know!"" The sisters groaned in unison.

"What was it though?" Mickey asked. "What caused it?"

"We weren't in the shop. We were outside." Rose lied. "We didn't see anything.

Jackie walked up to them, handing Rose the phone, "It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview."

"Oh, that's brilliant!" Rose said, sarcastically, taking the phone, "Give it here." She took the phone and hung up.

"Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out."

"Mum, we could've died! Now's not the time to be thinking about money!" Lillie scolded her mother but before Jackie could reply the phone rang and she picked up again.

"Bev! They're alive. I've told them, sue for compensation. They were within seconds of death." She said into the phone as Lillie rolled her eyes. As far as Jackie knew, they hadn’t even been in the building.

"What're you drinking, tea? Nah, nah, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger." Mickey told them.

"We're all right." Rose said for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"Now, come on, you deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub. My treat. How about it?" Mickey told the girls.

"Is there a match on?" Rose asked, knowing her boyfriend.

"No, I'm just thinking about you, babe."

"There's a match on, ain't there."

"That's not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes." Mickey said.

"Go on, then." Rose said.

"We're fine, really." Lillie reassured him.

"Go. Get rid of that."

Rose and Mickey kissed before leaving with the mannequin arm.

"Fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure."

Lillie’s phone rang and she looked at it and stiffened. Lars.

She shut herself off into her room, hearing her mother say, “Oh, Lillie’s gone to her room already. Lasted longer than you thought, Bev but I know my daughter!”

Lillie answered her phone and didn’t even get to answer when a series of fast-paced anxious questions were hurled at her from the other end as if someone had pushed the forward wind button as Lillie repeated the nickname and it wasn’t until about ten minutes later that Lillie could get a word in edgewise.

—

Rose was still shamed how she hadn’t acted as she thought she would in the crisis, wondering if it was a girl thing. She felt like everyone was right about her that there wasn’t anything special about her, that she was simply and utterly average. Maybe Jimmy Stone was right about her, that she was thick. She felt like for the first time, she had let her sister down, who the only person she felt like didn’t look at her like she couldn’t do better. She felt like she had broken her promise to save her sister. Soon she drifted to sleep but she woke up around two when Lillie let in Lars, quietly and snuck into her room. Rose listened to the indecipherable whispering between Lillie and Lars, luckily Rose’s room was in-between Lillie and Jackie’s, so their mum didn’t hear the late-night visitor.  Rose drifted off to sleep again, to wake up again around three.

--

Lillie's alarm woke her from her dream. Her blue eyes opened as she heard her mother shout to Rose, "There's no point in getting up, sweetheart. You've got no job to go to."

Lillie had chosen to stay home that day as Jackie prompted Rose to get another job, even though twelve hours ago her last one blowing up.

"There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs." Jackie suggested.

"Oh, great. The butchers." Rose scoffed, sarcastically.

"Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!"

"Mum, Arianna is Greek!" Lillie said, somewhat boredly.

"I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim."

Lillie dropped her head on the table in exasperation as Rose smiled softly, stroking her little sister's chocolate-colored locks.

Something at the door rattled, the catflap. According to their mother, that was one of the last things their father, Pete Tyler promised to fix, according to Jackie he was a budding entrepreneur and an inventor, at least, that’s who Pete wanted to be; he died before he could. The day of Sarah and Stuart’s wedding, he took the week-old Lillie out to get a wedding present that he forgot about, Jackie had already been furius that he took their newly born daughter who spent most of the week in the hospital because she was born at six months miraculously which had turned to guilt when she was informed of what had happened when the police had tracked her down, baby Lillie had spent hours crying as if she had sensed her father’s death.

Eighteen years later, Jackie had insisted she’d one day fix the catflap but she never did. Lillie didn’t need to take psychology classes to know for Jackie to do it would to fully accept that Pete was never coming back.

Rose and Lillie walked over to it, "Mum, you're such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays."

"I did it weeks back!" Jackie called.

"No, you thought about it." Lillie called back.

Lillie could swear she heard a familiar sound but she couldn't think where she heard it before. She bent down, finding the screws for the cat flap and it moved slightly. Rose bent down, opening it to see a familiar face.

"What the hell?" Lillie asked as the sisters stood up and Rose opened the door.

"What're you two doing here?" He asked like he was the one who belonged there.

"We live here." Rose said, "what are you doing here?"

"What'd you do that for?" He asked.

"'Cause we do!" Rose snapped. "And I'm only home because someone blew up my job."

He took out the sonic screwdriver again.

"Must have got the wrong signal." He said, "neither of you are plastic, are you?" He knocked on Rose's forehead, then went to do the same to Lillie's who slapped his hand away, giving him a similar drolly glare at Nova was so accustomed to giving him. "Nope, boneheads. Bye, then."

Lillie grabbed him by the arm, glaring at him like, oh, no. You're not getting away so easily again! "You, inside, right now." She pulled him inside, making him stumble from her impressive strength and grip. Lillie herself was surprised by her bold act as she was usually accustomed to just ignoring people listening to her Walkman, because for some reason, she still had one that somehow hadn't broken.

"Who is it?" Jackie called from her room.

Rose poked her head to Jackie's room, "It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes.

"They deserve compensation." Jackie said.

"We're talking millions." The Doctor agreed.

"I'm in my dressing gown."

"Yes, you are."

"There's a strange man in my bedroom."

"Yes, there is."

"Well, anything could happen."

"No."

Lillie had a disgusted look on her face. "Well, I'm scarred for life." Lillie deadpanned, pulling the Doctor away from Jackie's room. "Come into our house, strange stranger,"

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?"

"Might as well, thanks! Just milk."

Lillie watched the Doctor as Rose made the coffees.

"We should go to the police. Seriously. All of us."

He picked up a magazine, "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien.

"I'm not blaming you, even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong."

He picked up a paperback book, The Lovely Bones, flipping through it and remarking, "Hmm. Sad ending."

"Uh, y-yeah, it's for school." Lillie said, looking at him, strangely. "Don't like it. Very depressing."

"How old are you?" He asked.

"Eighteen. Turn nineteen in October." She answered.

"College?" He asked.

"Cambridge."

"Cambridge? Good school."

"Yeah, astrology. I've always wanted to reach the stars." She said and a smile pulled at his lips.

"They said on the news they'd found a body."

He picked up an envelope, "Rose Tyler." Then he looked at himself in the mirror and seemed to be acting as if he had never seen his reflection before, "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears."

"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke."

The Doctor picked up a deck of cards, "Luck be a lady."

"Anyway, if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what we're saying."

The cards went flying everywhere.

"I want you to explain everything."

"Maybe not." She snarked.

He saw a picture of a thirteen-year-old girl in a Sherlock Holmes costume and then it clicked; he pointed at her, "October thirty-first, two thousand. Sherlock Holmes." He looked her up and down, "You've changed."

She narrowed her eyes at him and scoffed, "You can talk!"

He looked confused for a moment before realizing, "oh yes, the face. I do that."

"You change your face?" She asked.

"And body and personality, done it half a dozen times since I last saw you." He said, causally.

"As you do." She said, sarcastically.

"Why'd you change?"

"Uh, I grew up." She said.

The Doctor made a face at that, like he was Peter Pan thinking of the aspect of growing up.

“What’s this?” He asked, nearly slipping of paper.

“Oh, that’s my paper on spooky action at a distance.” She giggled, “That’s what I call ‘Quantum entanglement’ to annoy my professor. I take university-level classes.”

“At eighteen?” The Doctor asked, actually impressed and picked up another paper.

“That’s my paper on cosmology. It’s about the size of the universe…”

“This… this is like twenty-first century drafting of Camhoolian Flat Mathematics, though oddly with very little mathematics.” He kept turning the paper at different angles as if expecting to spot a secret message.

“I don’t like numbers; they give me a headache.” She said.

“Ah, I understand that! Wait, this paper is dated 1999! And it’s about quantum physics! How long have you been taking university classes?”

“Since I was twelve.” She mumbled.

Then there was a pattering sound, "What's that, then? You got a cat?"

"No."

He peeked over the couch and the mannequin arm jumped up, grabbing his throat. Lillie jumped into action, trying to pull it off.

"We did have, but now they're just strays. They come in off the estate."

Rose came back in and took little to no notice of what was happening, under the impression that it was just a joke.

"I told Mickey to chuck that out... Honestly, give a man a plastic hand..."

"Uh, Rose." Lillie said but Rose didn't seem to hear her.

"Anyway, I don't even know your name, Doctor... what was it?"

The Doctor threw the hand off and it flies across the room attaching itself to Rose's face.

"ROSE!" Lillie screamed, worried for her sister, running to her trying to pull the hand off.

She pulled it off no problem only for it to grab on to Lillie's throat, pushing her down onto the glass coffee table which broke from her weight as it strangled her.

"LILLIE!" Rose screamed.

The Doctor pushed her onto the couch, took out the sonic screwdriver, and disabled the hand. Rose enveloped her sister into a big hug before examining her neck for bruising.

Somehow all of this commotion went completely unnoticed by Jackie Tyler who apparently had the loudest hair dryer known to humankind.

"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go you see? Armless."

He tossed it at them, Rose snatched it before it could hit Lillie, not wanting to take any chances. "Do you think?" She then whacked him on the shoulder with it.

The Doctor then promptly left with the bemused sisters running after him.

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." Rose exclaimed.

"Yes, I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" He exclaimed.

"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me! It tried to kill my sister!" Rose snapped.

"Ten out of ten for observation." He said, sarcastically.

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair! You've got to tell us what's going on." Lillie said, angrily, getting mad that he had insulted her sister.

"No, I don't."

"Well, you should." Lillie argued.

"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking." Rose tried to sound tough.

"Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"Sort of." She said, sheepishly.

"Doesn't work."

"Who are you!?" Rose asked.

"I told you! The Doctor."

"Yeah. But Doctor what?"

"It's just the Doctor." Lillie replied.

"Just the Doctor." He said, their responses overlapping.

"The Doctor?"

"Hello!"

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?"

"Sort of." He mimicked her earlier words.

"Well, it's not." Lillie said, sharply.

"Come on. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home."

"But what have we done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after us?" Rose asked. "And how do we stop them before they kill my me and sister."

"Oh! Suddenly the entire world revolves around you! You two were just an accident, you two got in the way, that's all."

"It tried to kill us!"

"It was after me, not you! Last night, in the shop, I was there, you two blundered it. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down... the only reason it fixed on you is that you met me."

"So, what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you." Lillie sassed.

"Sort of, yeah."

"You're full of it!"

"Sort of, yeah."

"If we almost ruined everything last night, then you didn't have to save us," Lillie spoke up, "you could've let us die. Why did you save us, then?"

"It's my job."

"You haven't done this is a while, have you?"

The Doctor stopped and looked at her, surprised, "yeah, how'd you know?"

"I-I don't know. I just know things about people. I'm intuitive I guess, part of the ADHD thing."

"You're ADHD?" The Doctor asked, the similarities just kept adding up.

"Yeah, you got a problem with a girl having ADHD?" She demanded, surprising herself with the confrontational tone as she was not a confrontational person.

"No, my best friend had ADHD before she died." He said, "I'm trying to do better in her memory."

"Then you shouldn't tell people they almost ruined everything; you know how much we already do that ourselves!" Lillie reprimanded him, reminding him of someone who always scolded his dismissive behavior.

"But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?" Rose asked, changing the subject and they all started to walk again.

"No one."

"What, you're on your own?" Lillie asked, noticing the lack of Nova and Sarah-Jane.

"Well, who else is there?" He said, shortly, "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

"Oh, yeah? Well, some of us would love do something more but can't! My sister dropped out of school without taking her A-levels for a boy and he thanked her by stealing her computer, leaving her to deal with their shared bedsit to run away with a woman named Noosha in a camper van with no A-levels and an incomplete education!"

"Lillie!" Rose scolded, embarrassed.

"Our dad died when I was barely a week old, he was an inventor, Rose wasn't even a year old and our Mum's a hairdresser who raised us on her own." Lillie didn't mention how while Jackie did the best she could, she wasn't as present in their lives as any of them would've liked, Rose essentially took on the protecting role over Lillie and helped raise her as much as Jackie did. "Not everyone gets the opportunity to do something great with their lives. Some things get in the way, some of those things they may be born with, and sometimes people don't know what they're going to do with their life."

The Doctor seemed shocked by all this and felt a little bad, understanding that with all of this companions, some had had less than fortunate upbringings. Vicki Pallister's dad had been killed by someone who she though was like a father figure to her while gaslighting her for years. Peri Brown had been fearful of her stepfather, not that he made it much better when he throttled her after regenerating into the Sixth Doctor. Then... Nova, her parents hadn't been abusive, they loved her with all their hearts, but... the man she had to marry, however...

"Sorry."

Rose sighed and snatched the arm from him. "Okay. Start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it?" Rose asked.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's radio control?"

"Thought control." Lillie said automatically though she wasn't sure how she knew this.

"So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story."

"Well, I happen to like long stories." Lillie challenged.

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" And then the three laughed.

"No."

"No."

"It's not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

The sisters spoke in unison but had different answers, "No."

"Yes."

"But you're still listening." He pointed out to Rose.

"Really, though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?"

He paused, "Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." He took their hands "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, both of you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go. That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose and Lillie Tyler." He took the arm from Rose, "Go home."

Lillie watched as he walked towards the blue box from the day before but it was in a different place, Lillie narrowed her eyes before Rose pulled her away when a rush of air blew through the area and then a strange noise. A strange yet beautiful sound that only existed in Lillie's dreams along with adventure that she had never known in this lifetime. The girls ran back to find the blue box gone.

--

The Doctor walked into the Tardis and started to smack the console as he brought up Lillie Tyler's high school picture and info.

Full Name: Delilah Holmes “Lillie” Tyler

Birthday: October 31, 1987

Appearance: Curly dark brown hair, blue eyes, five foot three

Fears: Claustrophobia — Fear of small, enclosed spaces

Skills/Abilities: Deduction, Problem-solving, Creative solutions, Resilience, Compassion, Empathy, Multi-tasking, Adaptability

Disorder(s): ADHD, Directional Dyslexia

Family:

Pete Tyler (Father; Deceased)

Jackie Tyler (Mother; Hairdresser)

Rose Tyler (Former Student; Dropped Out)

Medical History: Born four months early, fortunately, she was miraculously grown enough to go home with her parents and sister; Frequent visits to hospitals for bruised knuckles acquired due to fights; Sensitive to cold weather, prone to getting colds.

Record: Lillie has been known to skip class and get in trouble with the authorities and rebel.

Notes: "Lillie marches to the beat of her own drum"; Lots of potential, no ambition; Equipped for leadership but lacks interest; Highly intelligent but absent-minded.

"What are you?" The Doctor wondered.

--

"This is why we need to get a car of our own." Lillie complained to her sister.

"You're not coming in! He's safe, he's got a wife and kids." Rose told Mickey.

"Yeah but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an Internet lunatic murderer would say."

Rose and Lillie got out and knocked on the door of the house, a boy answered.

"Uh, hello, we've come to see Clive. We've been emailing." Rose said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Dad! It's one of your nutters!" He called. Rose and Lillie exchanged looks at this.

"Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose and Lillie. I'm Clive. Obviously!"

"I better tell you now, my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us!" Rose said and the sisters laughed nervously.

"No, good point. No murders." He said, he waved to Mickey who glared.

"Who is it?" His wife asked.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor! These girls have been reading the website. Please come through, I'm in the shed." He invited the girls inside.

Lillie tilted her head, he seemed friendly enough, but she had a taser gun in her pocket... just in case.

"They read a website about the Doctor? Girls?"

In the shed, Clive told them about the Doctor. "A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough—keep a lively mind—this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No first name, no last name. Just 'The Doctor'. Always the Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"

He pointed to a photo of the Doctor on a computer screen behind them.

"Yeah."

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original..."

He shows the girls some photographs of the Doctor standing in a crowd at the JFK assassination.

"November the 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy."

"Must be his father..." Rose mused.

The father/son theory made sense but Lillie wasn't sure. 

"Going further back... April 1912." He brought over a photo album of sorts. "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend." He pointed to the Doctor standing with them "This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they canceled the trip and survived. And..." He brought them a sketch of the Doctor, "1883. Another Doctor. And look—the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."

"Who's that?"

"Death."

Lillie felt offended but it was brief and fleeting. "Death? How do you know he's the cause for all this death?" Lillie questioned, "what if he only showed up because of the death and he stopped it as much as he could?"

“Uh, his name, how can he be ‘the Doctor’?” Rose asked. “It’s a bit vague. When I tried searching online, I got too many results.”

“Yes. That’s how he hides in plain sight. Clever, isn’t he… or she…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well to narrow the search down, I started look for the Doctor—the definite article—specifically no first name, no last name—just the Doctor and all the evidence seems to suggest, the Doctor seems to be some sort of title—given to a freedom fight or a convert operative. Granted by the some sort of government. Because in times of crisis, there’s always been a Doctor. And look, here they are, these people would seem to be the most important Doctors of all.”

Clive laid out photos on the glass table, all the Doctor’s Lillie had dreamed of… “It’s hard to work out the right order, but I think this is the Doctor…”

Lillie took a photo of an old man with white hair under a black cap and a black cape, standing in front of a metal tank that Lillie somehow knew was a called a “War Machine.”

“What’s that thing?” Rose asked.

“A War Machine.” Clive stated and then he explained, “Evil thanks built by a super computer hidden inside the Post Office Tower which invented the internet.”

Rose expressed her disbelief while Lillie stared at the photos of the old man. Another photo with him had a photo of a girl near him that caught Lillie’s attention. She was around fifteen with short dark brown, almost black hair and blue-brown eyes.

“Grandfather!” A girl’s voice echoed in her head before it seemed to tune in her head, making the girl’s voice clearer now, “Oh, Grandfather, I belong with you!”

Then a man spoke, he sounded older, “Not any longer, Susan. You’re still my grandchild and you always will be.  But now, you’re a woman, too.  I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own.  With David, you’ll be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do.  Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David, not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear.”

Then Lillie saw flashes of the girl, just slightly aged, but her face was smudged with ash and blood, her eyes staring at nothing, but as quickly as the image in her head was there, it was gone.

A little man with a Beatles mop of hair and Lillie had another not-memory of him playing a recorder much to a young man’s increasing irritation.

A man with a gray bouffant hairstyle sitting in a silver hovercraft with… was that Sarah Jane Smith!? There was someone in the backseat but only she bent down, Lillie could only see the top of her head and her multicolored hair.

Lillie saw flashes of him snatching a pair of shoes from a doctor and holding them close to his chest, rather childishly for an old man.

The curly-haired man in the impractically long scarf too small to be seen in detail because he was dwarfed by a silly forced-perspective puppet monster rising out of the Thames at least that’s how Rose’s mind put it together.  Lillie saw another phone of the girl with who seemed to be Sarah Jane again, the girl seemed to be doing a fangirl happy dancing while pointing and squealing to Sarah Jane at the “puppet monster” with her light green hair flying about.

A rather hot blonde man at Heathrow and behind him was the girl again, now with dark green hair sneaking up the stairs as three security guards bolted towards her.

“Is that man wearing celery?” Lillie asked but was ignored.

A curly-haired man clearly on his way to a fancydress party dressed as a picnic behind him was the girl with blue-gray hair with hints of other colors with another girl with dark hair. Lillie saw flashes of some rather tender moments, close ups of the girl who had bruises around her neck as if she had been strangled, as if Lillie herself were comforting, her mind made a seemingly random connection: Perpugilliam. 

Then she saw flashes of the girl, now older, she seemed to be in turn, comforting someone in Lillie’s first-person perspective and she heard her say, “Cute blonde guys can turn into scary violent guys real quick.”

A World War II photo of a short man with an umbrella running with some soldiers but there was no sign of the girl.

A dashing, Byronic man at the opening of some atomic clock thing still no sign of the girl.

And then… “That’s him.” Rose said as Lillie skipped the next two, noting that these didn’t look familiar at all.

A man with floppy hair around his mid-twenties to early thirties with a bowtie and a noticeable jaw and he was adjusting his bowtie, defensively and seemed to be justifying it to a woman whose face couldn’t be seen other than her frizzy grayish hair as another woman who had red hair and seemed to have more legs than most woman, again Lillie couldn’t see her face was her body language seemed indicate she was laughing.

An angry-looking man around fifty-something years old with gray hair and a caretaker's coat, holding a mop for some reason.

 A woman in her mid-thirties with short shoulder-length blonde hair and braces, running away from a giant frog in front of Buckingham Palace.

A Black man in his late twenties-to-early-thirties in an orange coat running through a graveyard.

A tall, bald Black woman wielding a flaming sword.

Another dark-skinned woman who appeared to be middle aged with her hair woven into braids in a navy tweed frock coat with silver buttons with golden hoop earrings. She seemed to be arguing with someone hidden from view.

Lillie was sure she didn’t have any dreams of her but somehow she seemed familiar but at the same time, her appearance put her off slightly, made her feel anxious in ways none of the others had. Like she was part of a deep dark secret Lillie had but didn’t know.

And a young girl or boy in a hi-tech wheelchair with what looked like a robot dog at their side.

“Before we stop, you should see the whole thing. Your Doctor’s not the final Doctor in the sequence, have a look at this next one.”

“We can’t keep Mickey waiting forever.” Rose sighed, checking the time.

Clive was saying something about a man who was usually seen with two pinstripe suits under a brown coat, brown and blue.

“What?” Lillie asked, why did that sound familiar.

She looked at the photo to see a handsome young man in his late twenties to early thirties, he was a distinct look that made Lillie think, oh, this guy could not pass as an American, either he’s British, Scottish, or an alien. He wore a brown trench coat over a blue pinstripe suit covering a dark tie and a white button-up shirt, and vastly contrasting against his professional wardrobe was a pair of white converse sneakers. He had simply fantastic hair, that seemed to defy gravity itself. He looked familiar but Lillie couldn’t place him.

She saw another picture of the man but he seemed a bit more aged, however with a copper-tinge to his chocolate brown fantastic hair, he was wearing a similar but updated wardrobe, a navy blue trench coat over a white button-up shirt with a gray knitted tie, a brown and turquoise checked-tartan waistcoat only buttoned once over his tie with a pair of matching trousers.

“I’m only interested in my Doctor.” Rose said.

“Yes! Yes!” Clive said and fetched a box labeled: 09 but Lillie was examining a picture of what seemed to be the girl but there was a bright lens flare covering her face. She shifted through some more but there were various light or tech problems some lens flares either on or beside her face or full-on glitches; some of the flares were directly over her heart, some had colorful flare-like things around her like an aura. Some looked like filters you’d do for fun, not to convince people, which hinted that Clive hadn’t doctored these. There were only a few you could see her face and in them she seemed preoccupied but the few filtered ones that allowed you to see her she seemed aware of the photographer, from a mischievous glint in her eyes, a uptilt in her cheekbones of a mischievous smirk, or just a feeling Lillie got, like she had power over the lights and even the camera. There were black and white ones with light effect in color. Something told Lillie that these weren’t Clive’s handiwork… but they were because of the girl.

“What are these flares?”

“Blimey. She looks just like you!” Rose exclaimed and then he elbowed her sister, “Look good as a blonde.” Lillie rolled her eyes.

Clive didn’t really see it but he explained, “That’s a companion often seen with the Doctor, she seems to be on and off but it’s rare to get a good picture of her.” He seemed a bit dismissive of her and turned back to the Doctor.

Lillie looked back at the photos to see one with a series of lens glares over her, this one she had red hair.

“What’s this thing?” Rose asked, pointing to the blue box in a picture of the Doctor.

Lillie looked at it and she felt a sense of longing, she missed a home she had never had.

“I don’t know.” Clive said, also sort of dismissing it, like he could see it but because he didn’t know the power of the Doctor or the Tardis he didn’t want to see it; something different that you see but you don’t really focus on it.

“So, how’d you get into this in the first place, Clive?” Lillie asked. “It looks like it must’ve taken years to gather all of this.” She gestured to the research. “So what started it.”

“My dad. He died when I was two years old.”

“Oh.” Rose said, sadly and she wrapped an arm around her younger sister, “I was six months and Lils here was only a week old when we lost ours.”

“I bet you still think about him.”

“Yeah, I do.” Rose admitted.

Lillie’s memory came up blank when it came to Pete as she had only been a week old when he was hit by that car. Only Jackie’s stories, and though neither sister knew, they highlighted who Pete wanted to be and the best of him rather than what she had thought of him at the time. She had always scolded Pete by telling him the girls needed a proper father, that didn’t mean the girls couldn’t think that he was, because he tried to be.

But then Lillie’s memory flashed to a man she was sure she had never seen before but seemed familiar in a way she couldn’t explain. He had dark red hair and blue eyes.

“Me too.” Clive said, “My old fella was a soldier with the Infantry. He was in the London Regiment. Proper little Cockney by all accounts, Mam said he was always scrapping. Handy with his fists. They said he died on manoeuvres. But in Shoreditch, of all places. Sounds a bit odd, dying in peacetime on British soil. Accidental discharge of a weapon, they told my mam. And bear in mind, this was back in 1963. You didn’t argue, back in those days, you accepted what the establishment said. But not me! I got older, I kept asking questions. Second Lieutenant Gary Jonathan Finch, how did he die?” Clive took out a photo from his wallet, laminated—much more personal. A black and white photo of a tough, stocky man in his early thirties, obviously Clive’s father—the same curly hair. “The more I tried to research it, the stranger it seemed. Like something was being hidden. Turns out, Dad’s regiment was caught up in some sort of incident. All very hush-hush. The day he died, they’d sealed off the whole of Shoreditch. Officially, they said a cache of unexploded bombs had been discovered. And there were certainly reports of huge explosions, that day. I tracked down the Service Inquiry, in the end, it was buried deep but I found it. And it said Dad had been killed in a junkyard, in a place called Totter’s Lane.”

Lillie’s mind flashed to an old junkyard, this sounded vaguely familiar but also… different.

“But killed, how? Information redacted. No record of the inquest. But I kept on looking, I searched and searched. Until I found it. The secret.”

“What secret?” Lillie asked.

“There was something else on the streets that day. Something that had no place in this world.” He took a few moments to take a deep breath and he opened a black folder, showing the sisters what he believed to be the real cause of his father’s death. It was a picture of a smaller tank made out of white and gold metal, Lillie hadn’t seen too much of the villians of the Doctor in her dreams, she had mostly seen him saving the day and with Nova but she knew this was one of them.

She had flashes of a young girl just a few years younger than her and she was hiding when a white and gold Dalek came in.

“Small human female sighted on level three.”

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL!” She bellowed and she started to beat the machine with a bat.

“Under attack! Under attack!”

She hit the eyepiece and then dove under the benches.

“Vision impaired!” The machine whined and started to fire wildly.

The girl had dove under a desk, using it for cover before jumping on it and running along the table towards the window as the creature followed the noise she was making in her haste.

“Reinforcements requested!” Then she jumped through the window into the hallway.

Another creature just narrowly missed her, she ran past it but not before turning around and bashing her bat into its side and taking off down the stairs… apparently they could somehow use stairs… she came upon a dead soldier, making her halt, she saw that he was dead and there was nothing she could do so she took his gun and ran off as one of the creatures rolled into the room.

“Human female is now leaving building!”

Ace ran down a hallway but was then trapped between two Daleks in a large empty area opening onto the playground.

“Stay where you are. Do not move.”

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

Then a third Dalek arrived, they all closed in on her as they all chanted: “exterminate!”

Ace got down on her knees, taking an anti-tank rocket and launcher out of her rucksack, clearly scared but not going to go down without a fight.

“ACE!” Screamed a voice and Lillie saw the girl again who looked just like her but with multicolored hair, she looked the same as she always did but there was something much more youthful about her, like she hadn’t yet been broken by the universe. She extended her hands, her eyes glowing and all three Daleks exploded.

“Ace!” The woman ran to the girl who was apparently named Ace in a protective manner.

“I nearly had them.” Ace muttered.

“You’re hurt.”

“I had an argument with a window.” Ace dismissed.

“You could’ve gotten killed.” The woman said with obvious worry beneath the her anger that she had taken out on the Daleks.

Clive was speaking again, “No one knows what it’s called. But I believe this creature, from outer space, murdered my dad.”

Lillie’s memory flashed to a fallen soldier, Clive’s dad, dead on the ground of a junkyard.

Rose was clearly not convinced; she looked at the photos of all the aliens. “And all of these things, the lizards and the robots and the blobs. They’re all from outer space? But Clive. Look. I’m sorry about your dad, but … All these creatures, they’ve been photographed out on the streets. In the open. They’re next to Big Ben. That giant big tentacle-thing is wrapped around Westminster Abbey. If all these alien invasions happened in public, how come we don’t know about them?”

“That’s the thing!” said Clive, excited, moving to look them in the eyes, “How do we forget? Why? That’s the biggest mystery of all. Some people say they’ve drugged the water. Some people say there’s an amnesia wavelength being beamed into our heads. And some people say there’s a crack in time, leaching away the memories of the human race.’

“What?” Lillie asked. That didn’t sound good.

He paused. ‘That one sounds a bit too fanciful for me.’

“Mmm-hmm.” Rose hummed in agreement as Lillie gave Clive was bewildered look.

"If the Doctor's back... if you've seen him, Rose... Lillie... then one thing's for certain, we're all in danger. If he's singled you two out... If the Doctor's making house calls... then God help you two."

"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" Rose asked.

"I think he's the same man. I think they’re all the same person. Each Doctor. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world." Clive said.

Lillie nodded, feeling he was right as Rose felt like this was just crazy... this was fiction... this was the raving of a madman... this was just absurd.

Rose pulled Lillie away from the "crazy" man's house and to the car talking to Mickey before they were even back inside the car.

"Alright! He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak. You win!" She said as they got back in.

“Rose! We’ve barley left his house!” Lillie started to scold her sister as she got in and then she stared  at the person in the driver's seat. It seemed to be a poorly made clone of Mickey Smith.

"What're we going to do tonight? I fancy a pizza."

"Pizzaaa! P-p-p-pizza!" The whatever it was said.

"...or a Chinese..."

"Pizza!"

Whatever it was that had taken Mickey's place drove off in a wobbly line. How was Rose not noticing this? Lillie knew she didn't pay as much attention to Mickey as she should've but this was ridiculous.

--

At the restaurant, the trio sat at a table as Rose pondered where she should go to get a job as Lillie stared at the strange-looking Mickey, bemused by how Rose couldn't tell that it wasn't her boyfriend.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. That's it then... dishing out chips... I could do A-Levels..."

"Mickey" just stared at her, grinning creepily.

"I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him and look where he ended up. What do you think?"

Jimmy Stone. Rose's deadbeat ex-boyfriend who she dropped out of school for to which he then repaid her by stealing her computer and dumping her with no A-levels. Lillie had repaid him by slashing his tires and keying his car. Lillie may have been shy but if you hurt someone that she cared about she went all out in getting revenge. She was like a badger, she was often underestimated by her kindness, her quietness, and her non-threatening appearance but when provoked she was able to become vicious and deadly.

"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a second?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Is he something to do with that?"

"No..." The sisters said.

"Come on."

"Sort of." Rose said.

"No." Lillie said, sternly, glaring at her sister like, shut up. “Mickey…” She said the name of her oldest friend as she were meeting someone else with that name and didn’t feel like it belonged to them and she spoke slowly and cautiously to both not set off this fake-looking Mickey and to warn Rose, “we never told you anything about the Doctor.”

"What was he doing there?" Mickey ignored her.

"I'm not going on about him, Mickey, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but... I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous." Rose said. “And you know, I can’t let anything happen to Lillie.”

Lillie disagreed in a way while she didn't think he was safe at the same time she knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"But you can trust me sweetheart! Babe, sugar, darling, sugar."

Both sisters looked confused.

"You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really wanna do, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart."

"What're you doing that for?"

A waiter approaches the table, Lillie looked up to see the Doctor, he winked and then put a finger to his lips to silently tell her not to say anything.

"Your champagne."

"We didn't order any champagne." Fake Mickey said, grabbing Rose's hand, "Where's the Doctor?

The Doctor moved to Rose's side and held the bottle out to her, "Ma'am. Your champagne."

"It's not ours..." Rose waved him off, not looking at him, "Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"

Lillie gave her a drolly look like, seriously?

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" He pressed on.

"Why do you want to know so bad? Why do you need to find out what we know?" Lillie snapped, narrowing her eyes at him, suspiciously. "Huh, Mickey!?"

Then Mickey’s smile fell, along with his eye, revealing just a smooth surface…

Rose gasped, barely managing not to scream and she muttered, “Plastic.”

He popped the eyeball back into his head and then he grabbed both Lillie and Rose’s wrists, tightly.

“Let go!” Rose gasped.

“Now tell me, I want to know everything about the Doctor. Or I will kill them.”

“Who!?”

“The people. The diners. The humans. Everyone. Starting with your sister!”

New kind of fear shot through Rose. She recognized the self-preserving kind of fear and then the fear she had for her sister’s safety. But fear for other people’s safety, there was a family nearby with two kids, two couples on either side of them, and a gang of friends. And most importantly to her, her sister. All in danger. Because of her. She’d brought this plastic monstrosity into the building and sat him down in the middle of them all. She felt a raw terror like never before because other people were in danger now, not just her and Lillie... Mickey. The real Mickey. Where was he?

Lillie looked around, where was the Doctor now!? She huffed and resisted, making fake Mickey look at her perhaps for the first time but he seemed to be able to barley do that.

“Think about it, mannequin. You’re in a pizza place with hot ovens. Large ovens. Blistering hot to humans but it’d just melt you.” Lillie growled as her necklace started to glow and Plastic Mickey’s hand started to loosen, not voluntarily but because the plastic-skin enclosed around Lillie’s hand was starting to melt.

Then suddenly he was back,

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" The Doctor asked.

Plastic Mickey, exasperated, finally raised his eyes to the waiter for the first time, "Look, we didn't order any..." He then realized that the waiter was the man he had kept questioning about. Plastic Mickey smirked as if this were his evil plan along. To be rude the waiter. "Ah. Gotcha."

"Yes, you've outnumbered him." Lillie deadpanned to him and ripped her hand out of his grip, the hot plastic not even phasing her as it just slipped off her skin like rain off of a roof. Plastic Mickey was so shocked he let go of Rose.

The Doctor started to shake the bottle as he said, "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!"

The cork popped out and hit Fake Mickey squarely in the face. His forehead absorbs the cork, and he spits it out of his mouth.

"I knew that wasn't Mickey all along!" Lillie exclaimed and Rose looked at her, puzzled like she couldn't understand how she could've noticed that this clay model-looking thing wasn't Mickey.

"Anyway." The fake Mickey turned his hand into a plastic blade and started to smash tables.

Rose pulled Lillie out of the way as a woman screamed.

The Doctor grabbed fake Mickey's head and started to pull, making a creaking noise until the head popped off.

"Don't think that's gonna stop me." The disembodied head said, the man sitting at a table nearby screamed. It was almost funny.

Rose saw that the Doctor was grinning madly like this was fun to him, like it was a game.

"Rose, get everyone out." Lillie said, pushing her sister towards the fire alarm which Rose pulled as Lillie shouted, "EVERYONE OUT! OUT NOW!"

Everyone ran for the exit except for the Doctor, Lillie, Rose, and fake Mickey whose body was blinding smashing tables.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Then the Fake Mickey swung at Lillie, sensing her voice seemingly. Rose screamed and the Doctor spun around, his glee fading as horror struck him, terrified of losing this mysterious girl, this brilliantly smart girl but Lillie ducked and then jumped as the other hand which had turned into a blade, albeit thinner and weaker swung at her legs, another swing and she spun around of the way, her curly brown hair flying before she stumbled into a table, making it fall over and Lillie noticed a small child at a nearby table, a boy, around the age of four, trying to stay silent but crying, he screamed when he saw the headless Mickey, bring his attention to him.

“No!” Lillie shouted, grabbing a chair and smashing it into the fake Mickey and she went to pick up the boy who clung onto her for dear life, Lillie became aware of the mother of the child was crying out their name.

“Robert! Robert!”

“Mummy!” Robert cried as Lillie handed him over to her.

“Over here!” The Doctor cried and Rose grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her after the Doctor as they ran through the kitchen, warning the staff to leave, only leaving when the headless Mickey came in, causing Lillie to grab the handle of a pot with bubbling water and she threw the water at the creature, weakening its strong arm before the threw the pot at it and was yanked backwards with Rose yanking Lillie by the hoodie, making her let out a strangled gulping sound.

The head started to bark at Lillie like an angry dog after you took their treat away.

The Doctor, Rose, and Lillie ran down a corridor—he grinned at the sisters and said, “Nice to see you, by the way! How’s your mum?”

“Angry!” Lillie stated in a shout from the adrenaline.

“Makes sense.”

They pushed their way out of a back exit, entering a yard containing… The blue box that the Doctor seemed to take everywhere with him which Rose assumed was no use to them now.

Rose spun around to see the Doctor holding Mickey’s head in the crook of his left arm, his foot jamming the fire door shut, whirring that metal stick to lock the door.

“WE’RE OUTSIDE!” Mickey’s head said, taking a break from barking at Lillie.

“Can’t you shut that thing up?” Lillie asked.

She turned to see Rose had run to a gate but it was locked but she was distracted by the Tardis.

Lillie just walked towards the Police Box, she pressed her hand against its wood and could practically hear whirring as if it were purring.

"Hey, girl. Long time no see." She muttered.

"Open the gate! Use that whirry metal thing, come on!" Rose shouted.

"It's a sonic screwdriver." Lillie corrected her, automatically.

“Yes, it is!” The Doctor exclaimed, proudly.

"Use it!" Rose cried.

"Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here." He dismissed, walking to the police box, unlocking it, and entering.

Lillie eagerly followed him, her first thought, being that he had redecorated. She liked it better. More personality and more… her style.

"Oh, you've redecorated." She said as much. "I like it so much better."

"Yeah?" He smiled; Nova had always insisted that he use this setting but he had refused because he loved to tease her. Now he finally chose it as a tribute to Nova. “How long has it been since you saw me last?”

“Five years.”

“Huh, for the first time, I’m the one taking the slow path.” He said, thinking that couldn’t possibly be right but it was.

“LILLIE, YOU CAN’T HIDE IN A WOODEN BOX!” Rose screamed from outside.

Rose then ran inside and never being inside was shocked.

Nope! Her mind screamed and she ran back outside, making the Doctor chuckle in amusement. Rose, knowing Headless Mickey was going to break down the door, still ran around the box, circling it, to try and get an understanding at how a box that could maybe fit two people could have that much space. She counted the sides. Four.

Then Headless Mickey finally broke through, only a few more chops would allow him to get through, so she ran back inside. "It's gonna follow us!"

"Then close the door." Lillie said, gesturing for her sister to come in and she jumped past  her sister, sliding down the railing towards the door as Headless Mickey broke through and stopped, trying to sense them and then ran at the Tardis but Lillie slammed the doors shut.

They heard Headless Mickey hit the doors but they only shuddered. Rose wouldn’t turn away from the door, struggling to comprehend.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." The Doctor was wiring up the clone Mickey's head to the center of the control panel.

“She’s not going to bite you, Rosie.” Lillie said.

Rose finally turned around, nodding and trusting her sister.

The Doctor’s blue box was bigger on the inside than on the outside. Much bigger. Hugely so. She was standing on a metal ramp surrounded by curved walls arching upwards, studded with hexagons. What she’d thought was a dome was more of a sphere; she could look down, through the metal mesh at her feet, to see the curve completing far below in one vast circle. The whole interior was weathered, rusting, bruised, and yet humming with life, as though huge engines were brooding somewhere beyond the walls. The skin of the sphere was supported by weird buttresses, shaped like… coral? Yes, she could smell ozone, like the seaside, though this was a coral glowing with internal light. The metal ramp at her feet was part of a suspended walkway leading to the center of the sphere, to the Doctor. He stood in front of a sculpture, a coral mushroom out of which a glass pillar containing tubes of light soared up to the roof and down to the depths, like a linchpin holding the entire globe together.

 "You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source.” He turned to the sisters, he may be alien but he knew enough about humans that they tended to struggle with the bigger-on-the-insideness. “Right. Where do you want to start?"”

The Doctor folded his arms, his feet set apart in a classic pose of masculine supremacy, looking down at them but Lillie knew that wasn’t who he was. He didn’t look down on women and he didn’t think he was as superior as he pretended to be.

But what Rose was focused on what that the Mickey-head had been plugged into the console, she stared at it with her mouth open.

The head was still alive, eyes darting from the Doctor to Rose and then to Lillie, eyeing her suspiciously.

“You must have a lot of questions,” He said, to bring Rose back to reality but then Head-Mickey spoke.

“Not really. Seen all this before. Seen better than this! You lot brought a war crashing down on our civilization, d’you think we don’t remember?”

Lillie studied the Doctor’s body language; the Doctor lost his tough-guy pose, muttered a quick sorry, and leapt to the console and stabbed buttons and pulled a big red lever. “Hold on a tick, we don’t need laughing boy.”

Mickey’s head said, ‘I’m gonna do more than—’

“Hey, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, shut up!” Lillie interrupted him.

He seemed offended but then he froze, and his eyes glazed over. Reduced to inanimate plastic.

 ‘Right, where were we?’ said the Doctor, and returned to that superior folded-arms position, facing Rose and Lillie.

Rose seemed a little overwhelmed but she calmed herself down when Lillie took her hand. Rose was glad she had met Clive as the craziness of his theories seemed to have prepared her.

"Um, the inside's bigger than the outside?" Rose pointed out, though that much was obvious, but understandably Rose was in shock.

"Yes." He said and looked at Lillie like, was that so hard? Apparently still a little miffed that she hadn’t said it, to her five years ago, but to him it was hundreds of years ago,.

"You like it when they say that don't you." Lillie asked.

"Yes."

"It's alien." Rose said, still coming to terms with this.

"Yep."

"Are you alien?"

"Yes. Is that all right?"

"Yeah." Both the sisters responded without hesitation.

"It's called..." The Doctor started before the intelligent brunette cut him off.

"The Tardis. T-A-R-D-I-S. An acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"How do you know this?" He asked, not recalling him, Nova, or Sarah-Jane having told her before but before she could reply, Rose burst into tears, Lillie went by her side to comfort her.

The Doctor was uncomfortable for a few moments. Rose thought he was weird. Kind one minute, and yet, when she cried, he stared like a scientist but then again, her sister was like that too. Kind one moment, and then brutal and reckless the next. She had gotten arrested for hacking into the school records once she discovered the school was embezzling money out of the “special needs” program.

"That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us." The Doctor said, gently. “Natural reaction, for a human.” Rose glared at him. “It does your head in, seeing technology like this.’ He was arrogant, he was alien, and he was an idiot.

"Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" She asked. Lillie knew that she mostly felt bad because she didn't love him like he loved her. She just loved him as a friend and liked him as a boyfriend.

"Oh. I didn't think of that." He said, blankly, slightly crestfallen getting a glare from the sisters.

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think? And now you're just going to let him melt?"

"Melt?" The Doctor asked, confused, he turned to see the head was indeed melting, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!"

"What're you doing?" Rose cried as Lillie got on her toes, examining the console. the desk had six sides, full of control panels, some sophisticated, some antique, with levers improvised out of bottle-openers and hammers, paperweights in place of dials, toy soldiers and scissors and curling tongs duct-taped to switches to hold them down. Designed by a mad geek wizard child.

No, more like a mad alien science geek man-child who always asked questions like he was in Wonderland. The Doctor had an almost Peter Pan-ness about him. Like he never wanted to grow up.

The Doctor yelled with excitement, “We’re following the signal!’

"Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!"

Then the Doctor yelled, ‘No!’ He had a rubber mallet in his hand – it was chained to the console, standard kit, for him – and he battered the desk, bang-bang-bang!

“Hey! You can’t hit her!” Lillie shouted, not nearly having as much trouble with the tilting as Rose was.

But whatever he was doing, it was too late. “Lost it,” he groaned, and the tilting stopped and the noise faded away, “I lost the signal but we must be close…”

Before he finished, Lillie had turned and ran to the door, opening it and running outside.

“LILLIE, YOU CAN’T GO OUT THERE! IT’S NOT SAFE!” Rose shouted, wondering if the Doctor’s madness had rubbed off on her sister but then he dashed past her and ran outside. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

The headless Mickey-killer-shovel-hands was still outside in the yard, the Doctor and Lillie would get chopped to death! The fear of losing her sister was enough to get Rose running dwon the ramp and ran to the door and looked outside.

They weren't behind the restaurant anymore but near the Thames River.

"I lost the signal, I got so close." The Doctor was complaining.

"We've moved. Does it fly?" Rose asked.

"More like it disappears and reappears." Lillie said, automatically before shaking her head.

“Oh.” The Doctor said, a bit disappointed and then he asked her, “How do you know this?" Rose looked at her, also curious.

"When I met you when you had an impractically long scarf and wild hair. You had a companion named Sarah-Jane Smith and a friend... with purple-colored hair and purple eyes. I saved your ass with a compact mirror from the Weeping Angel."

"Yes, I know all that." He said, shortly, offended by how she described him.

"Ever since I keep having these dreams of your adventures. Nova?" She had had dreams of Nova's death but didn't want to believe it. His eyes darkened and he shook his head, silently telling her that Nova was gone. "I'm sorry."

He was silent for a few beats before snapping out of it, "Ah, yes. Must be mildly psychic and a bit of the Tardis got in you or... she must've done something. She was quite fond of you for some reason."

"If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose." Rose cut him off.

"It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?" He said, tactlessly.

"Hey! Don't you dare talk to my sister like that!" Lillie glared.

Rose thought of the body dissolving, the last vestige of her boyfriend, and she felt a surge of horror in her heart, the enormity of it. Mickey. Lovely Mickey Smith, with his smile and his mates and his daft yellow Beetle, the only boy who’d buy a car because it was funny, not because it was cool. And it hurt so much, to see the chain of his family across the decades, Odessa, Jackson, Rita-Anne, now Mickey, all gone.

"We'll have to tell his friends, his uncle, and the kids from the estate." Rose realized, running a hand through her blonde hair as Lillie went to her side to comfort her and the Doctor gave them a confused look.

"Mickey." Lillie said, sharply, glaring at him.

"We'll have to tell his mates--The Bad Wolf band, His Uncle Cliff, all the little kids from the estate, they adored him. Oh my God, I’ve got to tell them he’s dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!" Rose shouted at him, "You were right, you are alien."

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey."

"Yeah, he's not a kid." Rose interjected.

"He's older than both of us." Lillie agreed.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?" He said, bluntly.

Lillie narrowed her eyes at him, it seemed like to her it wasn't so much as what he thought but more like what he told himself to ease his guilt.

"All right."

"Yes, it is!"

This whole argument Lillie's eyes darted back and forth like a tennis match.

"If you are an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?"

"Lots of planets have a north." He dismissed.

"What's a police public call box?" Rose suddenly asked.

"It's a telephone box from the 1950s. It's a disguise."

‘Disguised as what? It’s not a very good disguise if I don’t know what the disguise is. That’s the opposite of a disguise.’ ‘All right, calm down, it’s a bit out of date, that’s all.’ He looked at her askance. ‘I bet you two never lose an argument, do you?’

“Never.” The sister said in unison.

“Well if you must know, they used to have police boxes on every street corner, back in the thirties and forties. They didn’t have walkie-talkies back then, just telephones, so there’s a phone inside that little panel. And that’s the disguise. The TARDIS hides itself, like a chameleon. Park it on a street corner, no one notices.”

“D’you think? It’s a great big box!”

“Yeah, and d’you know what the human race does, when it sees something big and strange in the middle of the street?” He grinned. “You walk right past it.”

“I suppose,” she sighed, and sat down next to him.

“Is that why… we talked to this guy who had information about you…” Lillie started and the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. “Clive Finch. He said his dad died in Totter’s Lane in Shoreditch.”

The Doctor seemed to recall the event but not the man, he had been there with Ace but Nova… she had been forced to leave him in his sixth regeneration.

“But he didn’t seem to really pay much attention to the box.”

“Perception filter.” He shrugged.

“Do the words you say make sense to you?” Rose asked.

“Sometimes.” He shrugged.

“Why do they want to kill us?” Lillie asked.

“They don’t. They just want a home… there… a long time ago… there was a war and they were swept up into it. Nestene Consciousness. They’re not individuals, but it’s more like a single, vast, physical, thought-hive-aggregation. Huge, restless thing. Ambitious.”

“Like a Hive Mind.” Lillie said.

“Exactly. It’s eyed up the Earth once or twice before. But then the war rolled across and ripped apart the Consciousness, devolved it, rebuilt it into a travesty of its old self. And then the battle boiled away into the stars and left the Nestene to starve.” He gave the sisters a sudden, lovely smile. “I haven’t talked like this in a long time.”

“Well, I’ve never heard anything like it!”

All three of them laughed.

“You’ve been on your own for a while now haven’t you?” Lillie asked and the Doctor just looked at her. The resemblance was uncanny but it was impossible, then again, the universe, there were bound to be look-alikes.

 “So it’s starving,’ said Rose. ‘Is that what the Nestene wants? Is it going to eat us? What’s it got against us?”

 ‘It can feed off the toxic waste of this planet. Loves it, lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins, perfect. Just what it needs. Its food stocks were destroyed in the war, all its protein planets rotted. So it made its way here, so Earth, dinner!"

“And it what, it controls plastic?” Rose asked.

“It is plastic. That was the damage the war left behind. The Nestene was flesh and blood, once upon a time, it just had an affinity with plastic, it could resonate organic polymers. Nice party trick. But then the war came. And rewrote its DNA. Like a cruel joke. The Nestene Consciousness became living plastic, an actual living plastic creature. No wonder it found its way here. Earth, the greatest plastics factory in the cosmos. You’ve littered this world with so much junk, there’s plastic in the food, in the air, in the wildlife, you’ve got plastic lining the entire ocean floor. The Nestene looks at you lot and thinks it’s in paradise.”

“All right, Swampy, I’ve got it.” Rose cut him off.

“He’s a very nice man. I spent a week up a tree with him.”

“I bet he jumped out first.” Lillie smiled.

“He did, yeah.” The Doctor confirmed.

He noticed her fold her arms to ward off the cold, she had taken her jacket off in the Tardis, “where’s your jacket! You know the cold makes you sick!” Rose fussed, sounding distinctly like Jackie.

The Doctor smiled and he opened the door and pulled her jacket off the railing and brought it to her, wrapping it around her, once again showing a deep kindness.

She smiled in appreciation as she pulled her plaid and leather jacket around her and she smoothed so it matched against her skirt.

“So stopping the Nestene, is that like, your job? I still don’t know who you are or what you really do.”

 “I don’t do anything. I just travel.” He gave the sisters a weary smile. “Believe it or not, all I want is a quiet life. No job, no wage, no boss, no tax, no home, no responsibilities. Just me.”

“Sounds like you’re running.” Lillie said.

“Never stopped since I’ve started.

"Any way of stopping it?" Lillie asked.

"Anti-plastic." The Doctor said, holding up a tube of blue liquid.

"Anti-plastic." The sisters repeated.

"Anti-plastic.”

“It’s a polymer-blading reconvertant heuverstatic animotrope.” He said.

“Right,” Rose said. “Anti-plastic.”

“If I can get this inside the Nestene, it’ll stop it dead.”

“Well that’s good news!” Rose said.

“No,” said the Doctor. “It’s the last thing I want to do.” He pocketed the vial and leapt to his feet, holding his sonic screwdriver in the air like a he was trying to get reception. ‘But first things first, we need to find the Nestene. It’s clever. Hiding the signal, it keeps slipping away. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"

"Hold on. Hide what?" Rose asked.

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"Well, maybe we can narrow it down. What's it look like?" Lillie asked.

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible." He noticed the girls were staring past him at the London Eye but it took him about a minute to figure it out after looking at the monument several times. "What? What? What? What is it? What?" He finally realizes what they were looking at, "Fantastic!"

"Aren't you supposed to be a genius?" Lillie asked, teasingly with a slight smirk pulling at her lips.

He just smiled and ran off with the sisters taking each other's hands and running after him, their hair bouncing. The Doctor soon took Lillie's other hand as they ran and smiled broke out on the sisters' faces,

They ran over the bridge, across the dark river, running headlong towards danger and disaster and death, and the Doctor surprised himself by taking Lillie’s hand and the three ran together hand in hand in hand, and they smiled as they ran, and the smile became a grin as they hurtled along, the lights of the night streaking past them, and in that moment, for all their fear, horror, and grief, Rose and Lillie had never been happier in their lives. Lillie felt more than that though. She felt… home.

They stumbled to a stop once they were at the London Eye, there were crowds of people around them.

Rose felt a panic rising at the idea of them in danger, but at the same time, she felt a dark, powerful thrill. She understood now, how the Doctor could look so confident, so detached, so scornful at times; it was astonishing to know so much more than everyone else. The people around her strolled along in ignorance, while she knew about alien worlds, and spaceships, and alien creatures made of plastic trying to destroy the human race.

Rose Tyler, four GCSEs, an unemployed shop assistant living with her mother, barely forty pounds in her bank account with a genius rebellious younger sister she had dedicated her life to protecting.

Lillie Tyler, brilliant yet having no ambition. Moral and kind but rebellious and unwilling to abide to authority. More interested in using her brilliance for fun while helping people than being boring and serious about it. Antisocial despite her charm, wit, and undying loyalty.

Tonight the sisters knew things about life on Earth that no one else knew. For once, they felt special. More than that, they felt capable. The Doctor had trusted them, and they wouldn’t let him down.

"Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."

"The breast implants." Lillie joked said and Rose giggled.

“So did the Nestene build the London Eye?” Rose asked.

“Don’t be daft. That would be ridiculous.” The Doctor scoffed, “They’re just using it. Although, the Eiffel Tower. That was built by aliens.”

“You’re kidding!” Lillie giggled.

“It’s a good thing I stopped it taking off.” Lillie had a feeling that it hadn’t been him but he was taking credit. “Mind you. I only left it on idle. One of these days…”

“I can never tell when you’re joking.” Rose said.

 “Assume never.” He grinned down at the sisters.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

Lillie was searching around as Rose questioned why they couldn’t use the Tardis to track it and he responded, “Word of advice, Rose Tyler, when you’re searching for a hostile alien life form, don’t deliver the universe��s greatest technology into its tentacles.” A few more lines before he noticed Lillie getting too close away and he warned, “Careful. It’s going to be guarded. It knows what we look like, you two and me. Keep an eye out.”

“What for?” Lillie asked.

“Autons.” They stayed silent and kept walking, refusing to ask the obvious, waiting for him instead. He blinked, getting into their rhythm. “Autons are the Nestene in human form. Like the dummies in the shop. They’re just foot soldiers, they’re crude and simple, but the Nestene can make perfect copies. Like your mate Ricky.”

“Mickey,” The sisters said in unison, Rose biting back her fury.

“Don’t make me punch you.” Lillie snapped.

“Understood.” He acknowledged

“So they could look like anyone?”

“Anyone.”

Lillie felt Rose tug her next to her and she rolled her eyes.

“Rose, I’m fine!” She complained.

Rose however was staring at something as they walked. The living statues. Those people in costume, staying frozen in position, to earn money from people throwing coins at their feet. Rose and the Doctor were just walking past a living statue, a comedy tramp like Charlie Chaplin, battered suit and bowler hat, but sprayed silver from top to toe. He stood on a little box, the crowd passing him by.

Jackie always used to complain about living statues. ‘Creepy,’ she’d say. ‘What a way to make a living. If they want to earn money by standing still and doing nothing all day, they could work for BT.’

Lillie used to say she couldn’t last a minute doing that, she had to be constantly moving or doing something.

The Chaplin was perfectly still, he didn’t seem to breathing or blinking He was holding out his hand, offering a fake flower, his arm was still as if he were a real statue. Rose just stared. This was either the best mime of all time, or not a mime at all.

“Doctor,” she said. “You don’t think …”

Hearing the Doctor’s name caused the Chapin to move. It turned its silver face to look at her. It did not blink. ‘Oh my God,’ said Rose. The Doctor, perversely, was delighted. ‘Well done, Rose Tyler!”

Why did he love saying their names so much?

The Chaplin stepped off its box and walked towards them, ignoring everyone other than the trio, its black eyes fixed on them. Slowly, it advanced, holding out its flower like a threat.

A posh little boy stood in front of the tramp. He said crossly, “You’re supposed to stay still.” The tramp swatted the kid aside, whack! Then it kept walking, remorseless.

“Hey!” Lillie shouted out of reflex.

“Come on.” Rose said, taking the Doctor and Lillie’s hand to draw the Auton away from the crowd.

“They’re still in hiding,” The Doctor explained. “The Autons, they don’t want to draw attention. If we can just keep ahead of them.”

They heard shouting behind them. “Hey, you!” They turned to look as a large, red-faced man grabbed hold of the Chaplin. “Did you hit my little boy?” The Doctor started back towards them, but too late. The Chaplin shoved the man and sent him flying. He collided with a gang of drunk lads, which perhaps saved his life as one of them grabbed the man and started waltzing with him, his mates cheering. The Chaplin turned back to face the Doctor and the Tyler sisters and resumed its march/

Then the Doctor said, “Uh-oh.”

“Oh, what now?” Lillie asked. Ahead of them, another living statue. A ballerina, painted entirely white except for blotches of red on cheeks and lips. Eyelashes like spiders, moving towards them.

The crowd was getting jittery as the parents of the boy kept bringing attention to the Autons.

“What do we do?” muttered Rose.

“No idea. Keep going,” said the Doctor. They ran past the London Eye, then stopped. Ahead of them, a third living statue was stepping off its box. A knight in armor. It raised a sword as sharp as steel. Little kids running around it. So close to the sword.

The ballerina was advancing and behind her, the tramp was still pointing with that sinister flower. Behind him, the crowd jostled with violence, Everything volatile. About to explode. Only this explosion wouldn’t kill the Autons.

“This way,” said the Doctor, heading for the Embankment wall where there was a gap, leading to a stone staircase leading down to the river.

The sisters and the Doctor ran towards it as the Chaplin, the ballerina and the knight continued to march towards them—then they followed the Doctor down the wet, worn steps. Plunging into darkness. At least this would take the chase away from the crowds. The sounds of trouble on the Embankment were already fading away. But below them, there seemed to be only mud and black water. No boat, no tunnel, no escape. The knight, the ballerina and the tramp had reached the top of the steps and began to march down.

“But what do we do?” said Rose, panicked, as they reached the bottom, the stink of the river rising up. “We’re trapped, aren’t we? There’s nowhere to go!”

The Doctor grinned—God, he loved trouble—and held up his sonic screwdriver. “What did I say? The absence of a signal. And there is absolutely nothing coming from that!’ He pointed at a manhole, a few meters away, across some slimy flagstones. A hazy red steam billowing from its vents. Like anyone who’d ever lived in any city of the world, Rose and Lillie had spent their lives walking past grilles in the ground that emitted smoke, without ever giving them a second thought. But now, they saw them as a portal to another world. Or to their death. The Doctor ran over the slippery flags, squatting down to aim his sonic screwdriver at the manhole cover.

Rose looked back to see that the Autons were arranged along the steps in a diagonal line. “Why’ve they stopped?”

“Well, yes, problem is,” said the Doctor, a little shame-faced, “I don’t think they’re chasing us. They’re herding us. We’re not escaping, we’re walking into a trap.”

“You mean they wanted us to find this?”

“Yeah. Or we’d be dead by now. We’d have been ballerina’d to death. Which, actually, I’d like to see, but there you go.” The Doctor answered.

“I don’t want a life-sized plastic ballerina to be the last thing I see.” Lillie said.

“Yes. That would be a rather embarrassing death.” The Doctor agreed.

 “So we’re doing exactly what the Nestene wants?” Rose asked.

“Yup!” The Doctor kept whirring away/

"So, you're saying that there's a secret alien base under an English landmark." Lillie deadpanned. "Yeah, that's original."

The Doctor shrugged like, I didn’t write this.

There was a click and release within the manhole. He lifted the cover and a rush of heat and steam billowed up from the depths. An awful stench of sewage and carcasses. And a noise. The distant roar of something vast. Rose and Lillie looked down to see a metal ladder descended into reddish darkness. The Doctor said, ‘Normally I’d say, wait here. But that’s a bit tricky with the Three Stooges behind us.’ ‘Never mind them,’ said Rose. ‘I’m coming with you.’

“We both are. This is our planet and it’s not a replacement.”

“They always used to say that,” said the Doctor, with a sad smile. They didn’t know who he was talking about. But whoever they were, they weren’t them; the sisters do her own thing together.

Lillie moved first, jumping in and landing on a wrung, making Rose move like she was going to catch her. Lillie looked up to see an impressed Doctor and anxious Rose.

“You can wait here if you want.” She said with a cheeky wink and lowered herself down. Rose quickly following.

The Doctor grinned and followed them, descending into the pit from hell. Far below them, deep in the earth, something huge was shrieking with delight.

The trio climbed down a short ladder, all of them now bathed in the red light. They walked past a bunch of chains hanging from the ceiling and opened a door.

"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature." He pointed to a vat that seemed to have a pulsing, red-hot substance in it, screaming.

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose said.

"No, don't kill it!" Lillie interjected.

"I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance." The Doctor said, reminding himself of what he swore to do just this one time—do it how Nova would in her memory... but both Rose and Lillie had reignited his passion to save people, reminding him how beautiful humanity could be.

He walked down the catwalk and spoke up, "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation."

Lillie felt lightheaded and stumbled into Rose who looked at her with concern as she could hear a vague voice echo, "Shadow Proclamation." The vague image of a beautiful woman with pale olive skin with her hair up in a ponytail and glasses over her brown eyes, and a warm, motherly smile on her lips.

The substance in the vat flexed and the Doctor continued to speak. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?"

Lillie spotted something and she nudged Rose, bringing her attention to a terrified Mickey. "Oh, God!" Rose gasped as the sisters ran over to him and the Doctor rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Mickey, it's us! It's okay. It's all right."

"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, Lillie, it can talk!" Mickey cried.

"You're stinking. Doctor, they kept him alive." Rose called to the Doctor as Lillie hugged Mickey.

“Yeah, I can see that.” The Doctor said, sounding annoyed at being interrupted. "That was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy." The Doctor dismissed.

"You knew that and you never said?" Rose scoffed.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" He continued downwards towards the Nestene Consciousness.

Mickey was terrified, babbling as he clung onto Lillie’s leg tightly, it uneased Lillie as it felt like Mickey was trying to unbalance her. “That thing, down there, it’s alive, it’s been screaming at me.”

“It’s all right,” Rose tried to comfort him as he clawed at Lillie’s black skinny jeans.

“It’s okay, it’s all under control, I promise. But how the hell did you get here?”

“There was a bin, it pulled me inside. Big white light. Opened my eyes. I was here.’ She pulled back to wipe the dirt and snot from his face, and she thought: Culture shock. Like the Doctor had said. Rose and Lillie had discovered this world stepby-step, but Mickey had been thrown in headfirst.

A selfish thought in Rose’s head whispered, maybe I can handle this better than him.

The Doctor started to speak the substance, "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" The substance gurgled, "Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights.” It bellowed and the whole chamber shook. But the Doctor shouted over it: ‘I! AM! TALKING!” He silenced the beast. “How d’you want history to remember you? As a fine and rare intelligence? Or a genocidal intergalactic criminal? You once built mighty transparent empires in the sky. Now you’re reduced to this, plotting down here in the sewers. Don’t you think it’s time to stop?” The plastic lava slopped at the sides, a little sulky. “I know you’ve been through agony. And it wasn’t your fault. But look at the Earth around you.  This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."

Lillie could swear she heard a lilt in the gurgles like a question. Apparently so because the Doctor answered it, “

"Doctor!" The girls shouted as two mannequins walked to him, grabbing him. One of them took the vial of anti-plastic from his pocket. Lillie ran down to help him more out of instinct than anything else, “There are a thousand worlds out there with skies of dioxins. Places you could colonize without hurting anyone. The Western Heights of the Jaggit Brocade. Callistenia. Beynhale. Gris. The Threppitch Consolidation…’ He rattled off names with confidence.

Then Mickey pulled on Rose’s arm, somehow still clinging to Lillie’s leg. “It won’t listen,” Mickey whispered, terrified. “I’ve heard it. Screaming at me. It’s furious, it wants us dead.”

“How do you know that’s what it’s saying?” Lillie asked.

“Don’t worry,” Rose reassuered him, ignoring her sister. “You can trust the Doctor.”

“But it’s going to destroy the whole world.” Mickey whined, clawing at Lillie’s leg again as she tried to shake him off, making the bridge shake but Mickey wasn’t budging.

“No, it can’t.” She leaned closer to him and whispered, ‘He’s got this anti-plastic. He can kill that thing if he has to.”

“Wait, Rose…” Lillie warned.

“Really?’ he said. And Mickey smiled a terrible smile. His voice was cold. “Thanks babes, baby, babyface boombastic.”

He wasn’t Mickey. He was a copy. It copied him twice. Mickey stood, now strong and unafraid, but still clinging onto Lillie like determined to provoke her into attacking him as he faced the pit and calling out to the Nestene in words that were more like roars and howls.

The Doctor turned around, furious, with Rose and Lillie, not Mickey. “What have you two done?”

“LET GO OF ME!” Lillie screamed, punching on fake Mickey’s chest but fake Mickey grabbed her wrists as Rose stood helpless to do otherwise.

Mickey called out alien commands. Two shop-window Autons dressed in sharp navy suits, strode out of the darkness at the back of the Doctor’s ledge.

“Doctor!” Lillie cried but he had nowhere to run, with only the drop in front of him. He was helpless as one Auton grabbed hold of him and pinned his arms behind his back, the second Auton digging into his jacket. It found the vial of blue liquid anti-plastic and held it aloft for the Nestene to see. The beast screeched with rage, betrayed.

“Let me go!” Lillie screamed, her compass starting to glow, fake Mickey’s hands started to melt again until she ripped them out of his grip and bolted to the Doctor.

"No, Lillie, don't!" The Doctor warned.

"I'm not leaving you!" She shouted back but then another dummy grabbed her, making her shriek as she fought back.

"LET HER GO!" Rose screamed.

"Oi, let her go! She's got nothing to do with this! What? That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not.”

But Mickey answered as the Nestene’s puppet. He yelled one simple word of English: “Liar!” Then Rose looked on in horror as Mickey turned to her and grinned. His teeth a perfect, plastic white. “See ya,” And he melted away.

“Mickey,” Rose said, helpless.

Then a grill behind Rose moved and the real Mickey Smith tumbled out, panicked and terrified.

“Rose!” He grabbed a hold on her, “Oh my God, it held me prisoner, there was a bin and this light and then that monster!”

“RUN!” Lillie shouted, fighting against the guard holding her.

“Get him out,” yelled the Doctor, still being held tight by his Auton guard. “Rose, both of you, get out of here.”

“Who’s he?” said Mickey, and that convinced her he was real, because the last copy hadn’t even asked. That and the stink of sweat and fear rising off him, God, yes, definitely flesh. But she didn’t have time for him. He’s alive, great, been there, done that, sorry. She sort of patted him on the head as she looked up at the top of the chamber. The living statues were still guarding the exit.

“We can’t get out!” she yelled at the Doctor.

A door nearby Rose and Mickey slid open revealing the Tardis.

Rose could tell from how the guard started handling her sister and the Doctor more aggressively and the horror on the Doctor’s face that this was bad news.

"No. Oh, no. Honestly, no!” He cried.

“What’s going on?” Asked Mickey.

“Shut up,” Then she yelled, down to the Doctor, “What’s going on?”

“It knows the TARDIS,” The Doctor said, “Worse than that, it knows who I am. And it’s terrified.” He turned back to the pit, desperate. “Yes, that’s my ship, but I swear, I’m not attacking you, I promise. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war.” And now the Doctor was terrified. More than that. He was sorry. “I couldn’t help it,” His voice was raw as if the wound had been reopened. Was he crying? “It wasn't my fault. I tried to stop the war. I lost everything. But it was too late. I’m sorry, but I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them! I couldn’t save her or her world!” The last part was almost a sob.

But the Nestene’s screech was monstrous. It was pure noise to Rose, yet its ferocity pressed on her mind to form words. She was beginning to understand it. She realized: it’s a consciousness, it’s making me conscious. It spoke of pain. It spoke of war. It spoke of planets boiling in space and a thousand TARDISes spinning in flames. And then Rose saw its molten maw shape a word, which seemed to say: ‘Time.’ It reformed, to roar another word: ‘Lord.’

He hadn’t seen her world die. Her world already burned, she (Nova had always said Elder was more of a ‘she’ than an ‘it’) thrived on burning as her inhabitants were literally living stars but then there were no more Elders, or at least, not enough to keep her alive, so she froze and that would’ve killed any remaining Elders on Elder.

"What's it doing?!" Rose asked.

"It's the Tardis! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!"

"Not without my sister!" From above, now in front of the Tardis, Rose started the call Jackie but Lillie couldn't hear her from where she was.

Rose couldn’t do anything to save her sister but she could try to save her mother, she took out her phone and called her.

“Hello sweetheart!” Jackie Tyler sang.

It was a bad line, crackling and dipping. Rose’s voice sounded a thousand miles away. “Mum, where are you?”

“I’ve got you that compensation form from a police officer,” Jackie said, waving the paper about slightly, “And who’s that woman that Howard likes, is it Cynthia Rothrock? Cos I thought I could buy him a DVD, after I knackered his washing machine.”

“No, but listen,” said Rose. “Where are you?”

“I’m up West, I’ll tell her, it’s a bit nippy out! You make sure Lillie’s all warm.” Rose looked at her sister in exasperation at her mother’s non-stop chattering phone skills. “You should see Henrik’s now! How the mighty are fallen. It’s like Pompeii. Oh and they found that man, they said he was dead, that’s sad, isn’t it? Didn’t you say he was horrible? I’ve always said that—the way he would eye your baby sister! We don’t need her getting her own Jimmy Stone, not that it was your fault, darlin’…”

Rose’s voice flickered in and out, “Mum,” and then “Don’t,” and then maybe, “Go home.”

“Sorry darling,’ said Jackie. “Bad line. I’ll speak to you later, I’m off shopping. On your money, but you’re a very kind girl. There’s a bit of paella in the fridge if you and Lillie get hungry, although heat it up properly because old rice can kill you, see you later.” As Jackie hung up, she heard Rose swear—cheeky girl. Lillie was rubbing off on her.

“Mum! Mum!” Rose shouted and then she swore.

The Consciousness started to throw energy bolts.

"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!"

"It's the end of the world." Rose said.

Not too far away, Clive Finch, finally with proof that the Doctor was read, gave his life to save his wife and his children and Jackie Tyler ran for her life in shoes that weren’t meant to be ran in.

--

Far away, beneath the city, Rose looked up. She thought she could hear the terror on the streets. Screams. Sirens. Gunshots. Her mother was out there somewhere. Her mother and everyone she knew, with an Auton army on the march. But then the Nestene bellowed, forming another two syllables with its red plastic maw. It said, “Doc.” And then “Tor.”

On the ledge below, the Auton holding the phial stood back and its twin began to push the Doctor forwards. Towards the edge.

The Doctor struggled, gasped, dug his heels in, but the Auton was remorseless. And Lillie’s the same, surprisingly, having a harder time as Lillie was not going down without a fight as the screams of all those she cared about echoed in her head and she felt like she could feel their fear.

Its rage battered Rose’s mind, hammering ideas into her thoughts. It said feast. It said sacrifice. It said revenge. And one more word, what was it …? Absorb. It would absorb the Doctor and Lillie. And with him, it would gain everything he knew about time and space. The TARDIS would come under Nestene control. The massacre spreading across London would roll on forever and outwards into the stars. Rose sank down, helpless, to hug poor, sobbing Mickey. There was nothing she could do. She’d never felt so small; one stupid girl in the middle of a war, trapped underneath a burning city with entire galaxies pivoting around this moment, and she was tiny, infinitesimal, useless. The Auton pushed. The Doctor and her sister were forced closer to the edge.

Lillie could feel Jackie’s fear and her determination to save her daughters

--

Somewhere in Catford a lanky, rangy, stubbly man was making a quick escape. Jimmy Stone had been living with a Ghanaian woman called Abena for three months. In truth, he couldn’t stand her. But she had money to spare. Her father was the CEO of a petrochemicals firm back in Ghana, and she’d come to London to study Politics and Philosophy at the LSE. Her student life was supported by an open cheque book from dad. Nice flat, nice car, nice meals. And that, thought Jimmy Stone, was very nice indeed. So he’d romanced her, and moved in, and helped her to spend the money. And then he’d got bored. It was all very well, having cash to flash, but he couldn’t bear her smile, her positivity, her relentless dedication to doing good in the world. Give it a rest, love!

She kind of reminded him of Rose Tyler, his ex-girlfriend, only Abena didn’t have an annoying younger sister who Rose had cherished more than him, Lillie had been protective of Rose and saw through his act but Rose, still young and naive when it came to the cruelty of men, dismissed her concerns until Jimmy Stone left her.

Abena was out tonight, at some posh wedding in Henley. Jimmy had wrangled his way out of the invitation by pretending to have food poisoning. Left alone, he went around the flat, helping himself. Six pairs of gold earrings, one gold bracelet, one platinum bracelet, and bingo, her Duomètre Chronographe watch, worth about £25,000, all shoved into his pockets and off he went, down the stairs, thanks, Abena, bye-bye. He reached the street and inhaled a shock of cold air. He’d done it! He wasn’t a thief by nature—a born liar, perhaps, and unfaithful, okay, that was only natural—but Abena deserved it. In fact, he was doing her a service. He could teach her more about politics and philosophy than the LSE with one simple phrase: always look after Number One.

“You’ll come to no good one day,” said a memory in his head. The voice of that gorgeous, stupid Rose Tyler. Ranting at him as he drove off with her rubbish second-hand computer stashed in the back of his car. Hah, he’d proved her wrong!

Though, he had regretted pawning her computer after he stopped his car, seeing Lillie Tyler in his headlight late one night, staring at him with icy cold eyes that almost looked dead, like she was in trace with her compass glowing with pure fury. It had been days since he left Rose and somehow her fifteen-year-old sister had traveled to Amsterdam. He tried to defuse the situation with his usual charm but as always it hadn’t worked on Lillie. Her eye had twitched and then… even to this day, he swore her eyes had flashed purple several times, then next thing he knew she was chasing him around the woods he had been stopped in as he screamed like a little girl as she laughed manically, taunting him, never feeling such fear as he felt for her, not even the fear he would feel moments from now. The next thing he knew his camper van was ransacked as if by racoons and smudged with ash, his tires slashed, his band equipment gone, later it turned out it had been given to charity after being retuned and polished, except for his bass drum which had been smashed over his head, trapping him like an afternoon cartoon, burn marks he couldn’t explain for the life of him, and a list of everything he had done.

His account of the incident was a little foggy, but he swore at one moment he was in a tree and had nightmares of her walking up the side of the tree trunk like Spider-Man as if it were the floor.

He had considered suing Lillie, not that her family had anything he wanted, but then a good-looking American man in a military coat had entered, smiling at him with false kindness but a rage in his eyes like he had hurt someone the man had cared about and he had threatened him, not to say anything about Lillie.

Besides he refused to acknowledge the time when a fifteen-year-old girl, six years younger than him at the time, he had made him scream and cry like a child. Besides, there was no evidence and no way she could’ve gotten there.

 Jimmy Stone, swaggering in tight jeans, turned the corner onto Catford Broadway, his pockets bulging with so much expensive jewelry that technically he died a very rich man, as a crowd of Autons fell upon him and chopped him into bits.

His last memory was Lillie’s last words to him: When you die, you will remember me and know that if you hadn’t crossed me, you might’ve lived.

And he swore, he saw Lillie Tyler staring at him with no mercy and slight smirk before blackness.

—

As the citizens of London ran, screamed and fought for their lives, someone was fast asleep. In a house in Chiswick, a woman hugged her pillow a little tighter, annoyed by vague alarms from far-off. She’d had hell of a time last night, a bit too much vino collapso because Rufus from Accounts was leaving, to go to Northampton, and she fancied him like rotten, except she drank a bit too much and told him, and he’d laughed in her face, so that went well, and it was still only nine-thirty p.m., and God knows what had happened after that, except she’d arrived home at three A.M, without one shoe. Or, to put a positive spin on things, with one shoe. She’d then wandered through Saturday, dazed and glum. She made a truly disgraceful ham in parsley sauce for her mother’s birthday tea, then gave up. ‘You go to sleep, sweetheart,’ said her granddad. ‘Good idea,’ said Donna Noble. And she slept through the whole thing.

—

Lillie fought, her mind flashed to people she knew who had died or were dying, like Clive, and even those she didn’t like, Jimmy Stone, and those she didn’t know. She didn’t know who she was but she was a woman in her forties, older than her mother with brown hair and brown eyes. Lillie somehow knew she had a daughter around her age, eighteen, who was clever and witty, and… impossible. And… and something about a leaf, the most important leaf in human history or something, whatever the hell that meant! She knew people would die, people she loved, even if half of that list was down here, but people like Jackie and Lars would soon be dead too if they didn’t do something. The Nestene below widened its awful mouth in anticipation.

Lillie pushed the mannequin whose hands were now all melty as a bolt shot it, incinerating it but she slipped and nearly falling into the plastic below but she managed to grab onto the ledge.

"LILLIE!" Rose screamed.

"Get out, Rose! Just get out! Run!" The Doctor shouted.

"I'm not leaving my sister!" She repeated.

"The stairs have gone!" Mickey shouted.

Rose, with no intention to abandon her sister, but to get Mickey somewhere safe, or where at least, he'd stop clinging on her like a magnet, ran to the Tardis but it wouldn't open for her.

"I haven't got the key!" She cried.

The dummies tried to push the Doctor into the vat as Lillie desperately tried not to fall in as the vat spoke, "Time Lord."

Lillie looked down at the vat and vaguely heard it say, "Elder."

She saw flashes of that woman again and then of that man with the blue eyes.

In the shadow of an overturned black cab, Jackie Tyler felt her legs buckle and she sank to the floor as the brides advanced. The dummies raised their stilettos. Jackie sobbed, and she thought of Rose, and thought of Lillie, and thought of Pete, and she closed her eyes, she hoped her daughters were safe.

--

Rose stared in horror as her sister dangled above the Nestene Consciousness, kicking her feet at the faces forming.

Then an old memory came to her from just before she started dating Jimmy Stone.

Rose Tyler at sixteen years old bailed out her fifteen-year-old sister for hacking into the school computer and vandalizing the headmaster’s office, while she had busted the headmaster for having a hacker embezzling money from both the "special needs" program and from parents and had then digitally rerouted it back to the family’s, she hadn't been able to do it from the school, so she had broken into the school's "sponsor"'s mansion, she had avoided the security and disabled the cameras with ease, even bypassing some kind of defense matrix but miraculously she hadn't gotten jail time thanks to the help of a certain American in a military coat who the had flirted with multiple of the officer at once.

“Why do you have to do it this way? You could’ve gotten expelled or worse, arrested.”

“He was embezzling.” Lillie complained.

“You could’ve called the police.”

"And how much much would family and the program lose by the time they arrested him!"

“They never believe me. I stopped trusting them to do the right thing a long time ago. I had to do it myself.”

“Why? Why couldn’t you have just shown them the evidence.”

“True character and integrity is doing the right thing even if no one is watching. I couldn’t stand by and let him do it. It wasn’t right. The coppers are too cautious with their careers and the kids at our school aren’t exactly rich. I looked into it, several families were on the verge of bankruptcy and homelessness, I had to act fast before they lost something they couldn’t just grab back. You can’t just do what is easy, you have to do what’s right, even if it’s the most painful decision you ever make, you have to do what’s right because then what’s the point in doing it at all!?”

It would be so easy for Rose to follow Mickey’s first instinct to run away, to find a way to enter the Tardis. Well, easier than to do what she was thinking of doing but nothing in this universe would keep her from her sister. Nothing in any universe would.

Rose stood up, gathering her courage, it was easy when her sister was in danger. And then Rose Tyler said no. She said it aloud. She said, ‘No.’ She’d had enough. She’d had enough of standing back and doing nothing. Of being told to sit still and behave and go to work and wear this and say that, of being told what to do by men, and boys, and her mother, and teachers, and bosses, and boyfriends, by the Doctor and the Nestene and everyone in between. Above her, the world was ending. In front of her, the Doctor and her sister were dying. At her feet, Mickey was blubbing. Well, to hell with that.

Rose got a determined look in her eyes as she looked at her sister. She may be a high school dropout with a future of a dead-end job but she'll be damned if anything happened to her little sister. She will fight with her life to keep her safe. She ran across the catwalk to the wall as Mickey shouted after her, "Just leave them! There's nothing you can do!"

If the circumstance were different, Mickey would know better than to tell Rose that when it concerned her sister and Rose would've smacked him with the protective ferocity of a wolf in her eyes.

She ran across, jumped down to a lower gantry. "I've got no A-Levels, no job, no future." She said as she grabbed an axe. "But I tell you what I have got." She broke a chain attached to the wall, if she were a physicist, a soldier, an architect, or whatever, she might be able to calculate the angle and distance and velocity but sod it. In a life without many qualifications, Rose had one badge of merit—"Jericho Street Junior School under sevens gymnastic team. I got the bronze!" She took a firm hold onto the chain, wrapping it around her wrist, So she held on tight to the chain and looked at her sister.That was all the motivation she needed.

She took a deep breath and let out a growl of exertion before she jumped off the gantry and swung across the chasm, throughout the chamber. She kicked dummies into the vat and she sailed towards the Doctor. He saw her coming somehow; in that second,or whatever a second was to a Time Lord, he seemedto gaina second wind—with that big stupid grin, he doubled over, to throw the dummy holding him over his shoulder and down into the pit, so easily that later on when she had a second to think, Rose would wonder: What, was he waiting for me?

More importantly, the Doctor was free and he didn’t waste a second before running to Lillie whose boot and sock had been absorbed by the plastic and was burning holes into her other boot, and he grabbed her hand, surprised she had lasted for so long, she looked up, her eyes seemed to get bluer from a purplish hue when he looked at her but it must’ve been a trick of the light.

Rose swung over the Doctor’s head. She wasn’t aiming for him. She was aiming for the second Auton. The Auton still holding the Doctor’s vial of anti-plastic. She managed to knock the dummy off its balance, making it totter and then the one-booted Lillie, apparently not bothered by the metal of the floor in the hot chamber against her bare foot, pushed the dummy and kicked it, knocking it down into the living molted plastic.

Rose’s arc completed and she began to swing back. As Rose sailed back towards the wall, there he was, the Doctor, with that huge, silly smile, arms wide open to intercept her, a whoomph of air from his lungs as he caught her and held on tight. The two of them laughed with joy and looked over the edge. Below them, the cauldron of red and yellow plastic seethed and bubbled, but now lines of dark blue streaked and skittered across its surface. The Nestene started to scream and started to glow brightly as it turned blue.

Rose turned to her sister and laughed out of joy at seeing her alive and safe, she ran to her shouting her name and hugging her and Lillie hugging back, laughing out her sister’s name.

"Now we're in trouble." The chamber started to fall apart and blow up. “Come on!” The Doctor laughed, taking the sisters’ hands and pulling them across to and up the last stairway. Towards the TARDIS.

Mickey who had moved to where Rose had run to, pressed against the wall, wailed, “We’re going to die!”

“Oh, shut up, Rickey!” The DOcote shouted as they reached him and he grabbed his hand, letting go of Lillie’s who moved across the platform to see the Nestene Consciousness as a huge ball of fire erupted up from the create itself but Lillie didn’t flinch, she showed to sign of being affected by heat, not even sweating like the others.

“Oh my God!” Rose cried, grabbing onto her sister’s hand and trying to pull her back away from the fire but so they could still see the Nestene.

The web of anti-plastic had thickened until the creature’s entire skin had become a beautiful, poisonous blue that seemed to have entranced Lillie.

“Doctor, its solidifying, its losing its elasticity.” Lillie shouted.

It reached out into tendrils but its skin tore open and fire guttered from the rips. It tried to rise from the pit but pulled itself apart, red flames bursting out of blue wounds. The chasm below became a lake of fire. And it seemed to entrance Lillie, like an old memory.

“It’s destroying itself,” The Doctor said. In that moment, Rose saw his glee, and his agony, and she was terrified of him. “Come on!” The Doctor shouted and led the three humans to the Tardis.

 “There’s no way out,” Mickey cried.

“In there,’ yelled Rose, pointing at the TARDIS. ‘But it’s just a box!’ said Mickey,

“Oh, hush!” Lillie told him as Rose remembered how dumb she’d been just a short time ago.

Debris began to fall and Lillie instinctively ran back to the Doctor.

Rose ducked, dodging breaking concrete and bits of bricks as she pulled Mickey along the platform as the Doctor shielded Lillie from debris.

Rose reached the rickety blue doors of the police box and yelled to the Doctor, “Key!” The Doctor reached into his pocket and took out the key, holding it between him and Lillie, she stared at it in awe.

“Get this to your sister.” He told her, “I’ll be right there.”

She smiled with a glint in her eyes as she held his gaze, that he had trusted her with a key to the best technology in the universe. She suddenly threw her arms around him in an uncharacteristic act of affection, laughing and she ran off to Rose and Mickey, giddy as if she wasn’t at risk of being hit by falling debris.

The platform shook, the chains threatening to snap but they held as Lillie reached Rose and Mickey and she pushed the key into the door, gently caressing the side of the Tardis as if greeting an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long, long time, then she turned to Rose and Mickey and grinned before swinging the door open and the sisters pushed Mickey inside before Rose did the same to Lillie and tumbled inside after her.

Again, that shock of entering the TARDIS, the change in pressure like a physical thump; the sound of the crumbling evil lair became muffled. And for Mickey, the interior was a brand new terror. He yelped. ‘Whaaat?’ and boggled like he was being attacked by bees as Lillie laughed before realizing the Doctor wasn’t there.

She went to go find him when he had jumped into the doorway, his back to her, standing on the edge to look down. Rose ran forward to join him as Lillie ducked so she could squeeze through the gap under his arm to see, much like how a child would.

“What the hell is going on?” Mickey’s voice was more like background noise as the three saw  the dying Nestene Consciousness.

The creature was ripping itself into blue, fleshy chunks as it descended into the pit of fire, huge explosions blossoming up from the depths, the walls caving in on all sides. And above the roar, a terrible, keening sound as the Nestene wept. Rose looked at the Doctor, though he did not look at her nor did Lillie.

She wasn’t smiling anymore, she looked sorry and apologetic. Like she had the weight of the universe on her shoulders, she seemed to hold more responsibility in that moment than Rose had ever known her to have in her entire life.

The Doctor and Lillie’s eyes were like skies of ice.

“I’m sorry.” The Doctor whispered.

Then he slammed the door shut, sealing them inside the cocoon of the TARDIS.

Mickey, still not understanding how the Tardis was the safest place on Earth, cried, “We’re still going to die!”

The Doctor strode past him, dismissively and he reached the controls, flipped a big red lever. Rose sank to her knees, exhausted, with a blissful smile, welcoming the joyous sound of the engines lurching and stuttering into life as Lillie stood her ground, feeling strong.

The shining glass within the central column began to rise and fall, and the roar of the world outside faded away. In the lair of the Nestene, a final wail rose from the beast as the walls and roof collapsed into the burning ravine. The creature died in fury and despair, and the flames and rocks became its tomb. The rising stanchion reached maximum stress and sheared in half with a snap like a thunderbolt. The last lattices of ceiling fell, exposing the chasm to the night sky above and then as the stars shined down on the Nestene… it felt a sense of peace in its final moments as if the stars were smiling down on it, giving it some comfort in its last moments before death.

—

“Mum!” Rose suddenly gasped, fumbling with her phone as the Doctor frowned at Lillie’s one-booted shoe.

“You look daft with one shoe.” He stated and then he pulsed his sonic screwdriver at her boot, “One second.” And then he left.

“Where’s he going!?” Mickey squeaked.

Jackie was desperate. Thinking of Rose and Lillie. She kept walking. Heading for home. All around her, horrors. Injuries that made her flinch. People lying on the floor, asking for help. Huddled in corners, crying. Lost children. But Jackie didn’t have time, she had to get back to the flat, to find Rose and Lillie. She had to make sure they were safe.

She’d been in that flat so many years ago, when she left one morning with Rose just to go to a wedding, upset with her husband and then returned a widow and a single mother with her two baby girls.

She had to be there now. To stop that news from ever coming again. And then her mobile rang. Rose.

Jackie answered, “Oh my God! Sweetheart, is that you? Are you all right? Is Lillie alright?”

 “Mum! Oh thank God, you’re alive! Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Never mind me, what about you and Lillie.”

“Honestly, trust me, I’m fine. And Lillie’s right here, she’s fine.”

“Where are you?”

A pause. “Travelling,” Rose said.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jackie asked.

“Never mind, I’m on my way home.” Rose said, Rose’s voice became muffled as she asked someone, ‘How long?’ Then she came back to Jackie, “I’m one second away, apparently.”

“I’m still up West. Did you see it? All the dummies? And not just people dressed up, their heads fell off, I picked up this bride’s head and I gave it a tap and it was solid. Then I banged it on the floor, and I’m telling you, 100 per cent plastic! But it was moving! And they tipped over a bus! And killed this man right in front of me, you should’ve seen it, and this great big clown—"

“Yeah, sorry, got to go.” And click, Rose was gone.

“Oh, well thank you, madam,” said Jackie to her phone. But Rose was alive. Her daughter was safe, and heading home. Jackie would get there somehow, even if she had to walk all the way, she’d burst through that door, she’d get out the whisky, she’d knock them up a curry, she’d toast their survival and hold her daughters tight. Hey, she might even sell her story for a bit of money. My Night of Hell, by Jacqueline Tyler. But first of all, she thought of the children she’d walked past. And Jackie went back to help.

—

The Doctor returned with an identical pair of boots to the ones Lillie was wearing and waved off her thanks.

Mickey interrupted. “How do we get out of here?” He was sitting on the floor, on the opposite side of the console to the Doctor, determined to stay as far away from him as possible as if he were suddenly going to grow tentacles. He’d initially retreated down one of the gantries, so scared of the chamber’s size that he’d tried to hide in the shadow of an internal doorway. But then he’d heard a roar from the depths of the TARDIS.

“That’ll be the dragon,” said the Doctor with a bit a laughter in his voice and Mickey had scarpered back to the center. Now he huddled into himself, overwhelmed, smeared with grease and grime. As far as he knew, the police box was still inside the underground lair; he could accept that the inside was calmer somehow, safer and sort of detached, but he had no concept of the box having moved.

Rose supposed she could explain it to him. But later, maybe. The Doctor was more important, right now. Time with him was precious, he could vanish on a whim, and she didn’t like the idea of seeing that happiness fade from her sister’s eyes.

Rose and the Doctor discussed how they were in flight when Mickey interrupted, “What the hell are you on about?” The Doctor had a wolfish gleam in his eye, that made Mickey regret his question. A challenge. He strode down the entryway, his big boots making the metal clatter and clang. He looked at the sisters, seeing the excitement in their faces, returned his challenge and he opened the left-hand door. Lillie was immediately at his side, leaving a gap for Rose to see the outside who soon joined them as Lillie sat down, dangling her feet as she looked at the view.

They were in flight above the entire planet. They held the whole of the world within their sight.

“It’s a trick. That’s not real,” Mickey denied. They didn’t look back at him.

Down below at Great Britain, the lights of London a yellow sprawl in the dark of night. Down there, she supposed, there must be fires and alarms and tragedies, but it seemed mercilessly peaceful from above. The clouds of the Atlantic curling towards a bright fringe of sunlight, the long day ending beyond the curve. When Rose looked at the north-east curve of the horizon below, some plains of Russia, focusing on particular dips of landscape. Up and out where the infinite stars.

Rose had imagined space as a simple black. But it was paler, and richer, and so much more complex, infused with extraordinary maroons, reefs of light blue, glints of yellow on vast clouds of the deepest green. They stood there together, Rose and the Doctor, standing over Lillie, in an intimate silence.

Lillie waited, and then, as she knew she would, she saw them change under the planet’s slow revolve, she felt an exhilaration, a thrill, that almost made her feel powerful, like she was capable of universal possibilities.

“I can feel it,” she said aloud so the Doctor and Rose could hear her. “The turn of the Earth.”

The Doctor smiled and they stayed there for a while. Lillie soon became antsy and moved back into the Tardis and the Doctor closed the door. Time to go home but Rose knew that the Powell Estate was no longer Lillie’s home. Earth was no longer home to her.

The TARDIS had settled with a big, resounding thump, the glass column hissing to a halt and the groan of engines falling away. The end of the line. The Doctor had promised to bring them back to the Powell Estate. With a grin, Rose opened the door. Onto the cold and dark. She stepped out, into the London night with Lillie behind her.

“We’re in the wrong place!” She realized this was Henrik’s. Where it all began. They were just beyond the ruin of the shop. The TARDIS had brought them to a mountain of blackened rubble sealed off by hazard tape and chain-link fencing. Just twenty-four hours ago… One day in which everything had changed. But the sisters also knew it couldn’t last forever. Rose turned back to the Doctor who was leaning against the TARDIS doorway, arms folded. “You said home, you got it wrong.”

Then he was pushed aside as Mickey ran out, came to a halt. He looked around, looked back at the TARDIS, then at Rose, then at Lillie, down at the ground, up at the sky, down again. He stamped on the street to prove it was real. He’d convinced himself that seeing the Earth from orbit had been some sort of illusion, but now he had to face the truth. That they’d moved.

Then he asked, “Were we thrown?”

“What?” Lillie asked.

“What d’you mean, thrown?” Rose asked.

“Like, we were underground. And it exploded... And we got thrown out. And we landed here.” Mickey tried to reason.

Rose took a deep breath, to explain, but the Doctor interrupted, “Actually, that’s not bad. Same difference. Well done, Ricky.”

“It’s Mickey,” He said, trying to hide behind a large piece of wood, away from the Tardis.

Rose went to him to check on him, “Is he all right?”

“Don’t talk like I’m not here,” Mickey complained.

Lillie spun on her heels to look at him, “Oh, so you know the side effects of you being copied into plastic twice?”

Mickey opened his mouth, shut it, and then open it again, like fish out of water.

“He was copied. Bit knackering. Ten minutes, fresh air, right as rain. So, are we done?”

Rose saw her sister’s posture fall and her smile falter, the happiness in her eyes dimmed. She herself could feel a sudden rush in her heart. This was it. The Doctor was going. He’d step into that box and slam the door, never to be seen again. She saw her sister trying to hide her emotions like she always did and Rose didn’t want to give her disappointment away either.

She said, as though indifferent, “I suppose.”

“Good,” The Doctor said,

“Yeah,” said Rose.

“Yep.” Lillie choked down, looking down.

And they stayed where they were.

Then the Doctor said, “Right. I’d better go.”

Lillie noticed that he seemed to be hesitate to leave them too.

“Well, good luck,” Rose said, “You’ll need it.”

“What makes you think that?” He asked with mock offense.

“You were useless in there. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me,” Rose smiled that brilliant smile, quite proud of herself.

“D’you think?” He was smiling too, just a little and then he admitted, “Yes, I suppose I would be. Thank you.”

And still, all three of them hesitated. The Doctor’s weight shifted onto his back foot, his hand tensed on the wooden door, about to close it—but not yet. The moment suspended. The Doctor knew these two girls were special; his empathy for all life—especially humanity was back, the one he thought had died with Nova.

"Right then, I'll be off… unless, uh, I don't know,” He shrugged, to appear casual, “you two could come with me. As you know this box isn't just a London-op, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge.”

Everything fell away: the sirens, the city, the cold, the pain of her new replacement boot rubbing against the back of her bare heel raw.

Then he blinked, drew in a sharp breath, looked at the sisters as though preparing to forget them, “Anyway. Never mind. Just a thought.” He took one step back.

“No! Don’t go!” Lillie blurted out and he looked at her.

Forcing herself to process what he was asking, Lillie got a surge of excitement in her body at the idea, her happiness coming back. For the first time in her life, something felt... right. She wasn't a kid anymore; she was eighteen and Rose could come with.

"You're serious?" She asked, grinning wildly.

"Nova made you promise, didn't she?" He smiled.

Mickey looked up at Lillie and said, “You can’t. It’s not safe. He’s an alien. He’s a thing.”

"Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing." Mickey said, pointing as if it needed to be clarified who he was referring to.

"He's not a bad alien." Lillie said, not looking away, "besides I've saved his hide twice now."

"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere. The choice is yours, Lillie Tyler.”

"Yes!" Lillie exclaimed at once, practically giddy with excitement.

A flash of relief passed over the Doctor’s face and he looked at Rose.

Rose looked tempted too but she forced herself to think logically.

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked.

"Yeah." Doctor admitted and Mickey clung to Rose’s waist.

Rose thought about the fear she had felt but it had been worth it, to do the good that she did. She wanted to feel that again.

But then, ping, ping, ping. Her phone was bombarded by texts as it reconnected with the network came back to life; thirty-four messages received—thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven.

The list of names: Sally, Shareen, Mook, Patrice, Omar, Maxwell, Suki, Janice, Keisha, Cole, Mum, Mum, Mum. Rose's old world coming back.

Lillie checked her phone and the Doctor spotted, only two people had messaged her. Mum. Mum. Mum. Lars. Lars. Lars. Lars. Lars. Lars. Mum. Mum. Mum.

Rose wondered if any of those texts would be someone’s final message. And then Jackie, of course, she thought of Jackie, wandering home. And Mickey, poor Mickey Smith, that lovely bright boy shattered by events. Needing her help. And tomorrow the sun would shine and life would go on and she needed a job, she needed a wage, she couldn’t go running off like she’d done with Jimmy Stone, she wasn’t a kid any more. She had to buckle down and behave and face her responsibilities.

"Yeah, I can't. I've uh, I've got to go and find my mum, and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so..." she turned to her sister, "you have fun and be safe. Okay, Lillie? I'll tell mum that you've... gone studying abroad or something..." Rose shrugged. "Take a year off before you head off to Cambridge."

While Rose didn't want her sister to go without her, she knew that Lillie had been waiting for a moment like this all her life and it wouldn't be fair to take it away from her. Lillie deserved it.

The Doctor’s expression did not change. He kept a level stare, as though none of this mattered at all and Lillie ran in the Tardis with the Doctor with a huge grin on her face. Though she knew that Rose wanted to go.

 “You watch after her. She’s sensitive to the cold.” Rose warned, “She gets sick easy when she’s cold.”

The Doctor didn’t mention that the radiation of the Tardis mutated human cells, making them better at fighting off diseases.

"Okay. See you around." The Doctor said, closing the door.

The Tardis started to dematerialize…

Mickey stood up to stare alongside her and they saw the miracle of the box for the first time. The lamp on top of the stacked roof flared as bright as the sun. Then it pulsed up and down, seeming to draw all the color out of the box as the noise heaved into a bellow, a fierce little wind whipping up, a vortex of papers and flakes and ash spiraling around the shape of the box even as that shape began to disappear. The lines and light melted away into the night. The wind died down, the debris settled to the floor, and the noise faded down to a whisper, and then nothing at all. The Doctor had gone with Lillie.

Rose stared at the empty space for a long time where the machine that had her sister and the Doctor inside were. Her eyes fell to a mirror in an alley and she saw herself in a tall broken shard of mirror that was a Hendrik’s display that had been thrown across the street.

And there she stood. Nineteen years old, London born, average height. Hoodie and jeans, like everyone her age. A scoop of dirty blonde hair around her face. Eyes like her father’s, mascara and hair like her mum’s. A bit of a sullen expression which made everyone, her whole life, say “Cheer up.”

The most ordinary girl in the world. And I’m happy with that, she thought. This ordinary girl helped to save the world, not with magic, not with science, not with any particular skill, I just did one simple thing: I never gave up.

--

The Doctor caught Lillie staring at the door from the console as she bit and sucked on her lip and she felt his gaze on her, she looked at him.

"She wants to go, you know." Lillie said. “She ran away from her responsibilities once for a prat of a boy. Dropped out of school.”

“How do you know this isn’t that?” He asked.

“It’s not.” She said, confident.

The Doctor smiled before heading back to give Rose a second chance.

And then she heard it again. The grind of engines. The light blazed into existence, a rush of, a spiral of wind, and the outlines of the box, bleeding into the air, and then with a thump, the TARDIS was back.

The Doctor opened the door again and said, "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

The spin of the world beneath her feet seemed to tilt. Now so many things made sense. The photographs in the shed. Those two words, spoken by a furious beast: “time” and “lord”. Rose turned to Mickey. She loved him, but that seemed a very small thing, right now. She thought of the people who’d abandoned him, the people he’d lost over the years. And she was sorry, but above and beyond that, she thought: That’s his story. But this is my story, now. And the only person who can tell it, is me. She gave Mickey a kiss. She said, "Thank you." Then she ran towards the rest of her life, joining her sister.

Lillie and Rose knew that the stranger’s promise, given to them in the dark and snow of New Year’s Eve, had finally come true. Lillie thought back to that man from what little she could see of him.

And that’s how the journey began. And they hoped it would never end.

#“Rose” Episode #2005 #The Eccedentiast #Supernova #Rose Tyler #Ninth Doctor #Mickey Smith #Memory of the Tenth Doctor #Doctor Who #Series One #Season One #Series 1 #Season 1 #Katherine Langford #Tyler!Sister #Tyler!OC #Rose Tyler's Sister #Rose Tyler's Younger Sister #Nine #Rose #Golden Rose #Autons #“Run!” #christopher eccleston #“Rose” Novelization Rewrite #“Rose” Episode Rewrite #Jackie Tyler #Billie Piper #Bad Wolf Mention #Living Plastic

[bumblesimagines]

Green Thumb

Part 17

Request: Yes or No

For anyone curious and if I did my math correctly y/ns dad had him when he was 35. This one feels short and I hate ittt but I tried making it feel longer. The chunks are just thicc

~

"So, why are we going to Belgium?" Natasha asked, setting the course. You looked at her, taking a seat beside her.

"Cause.. I have family there.. She might be family, I don't now." You answered, feeling the jet move forward before it took off into the sky.

"Family? Like, blood related? Who?" Natasha asked, glancing at you. You licked your lips, staring forward.

"My aunt." Natasha's brows raised, looking over at you. You sighed, nodding.

"What if she turns me away?" You asked softly.

"Well.. You're probably her only remaining family. I wouldn't want to turn away a family member." Natasha licked her lips, looking forward at the passing clouds.

"What do I even say? Hey, I'm (Y/N) and I have superpowers?"

"Well, you can introduce yourself and ask about her brother." Natasha gave a small smile. You nodded.

"How's Clint?" Natasha asked, rested her head on her fist. Her hair was long and her natural red locks were returning. It made her hair look a little weird but she was going through a lot of things.

"Who fucking knows." You frowned, arms crossing. Clint had fucked off to god knows where, leaving you to deal with your grief alone. Natashas' brows furrowed.

"Clint has decided not to return home in what feels like weeks. Maybe even months, I haven't been paying attention." You shrugged lightly. Natasha frowned, leaning back in the seat. Definitely didn't sound like Clint but grief could make people do crazy things.

"I've been trying to keep up with the house but I'm just one guy handling everything Clint decided to build and add on." You licked your lips, shaking your head and letting out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry." Natasha said softly, giving your arm a squeeze. "I'll talk to him if you want."

"Let him do whatever the hell he wants to do. He's a grown man." You replied, feeling bitter and resentful. Natasha silently nodded. The rest of the ride was silent until the jet reached Belgium.

"We're here." You stepped out of the jet, feeling a small breeze go by. You felt your stomach doing flips, heartbeat quickening. You took in a deep breath, glancing at Natasha. She placed a gentle hand on your back, offering a small smile.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get in touch with Clint?" She asked, head tilting. You shook your head.

"It could make things more complicated." You said, looking around. The house across the street matched with the address Tony had given you. It was more on the outskirts of town, surrounded by trees. You could hear some horses behind the house. You took in a deep breath, trying to ease your nerves as you walked towards the house, crossing the road. Natasha followed, studying the area.

"Seems like gardening might run in the family." Natasha said, motioning to the flower garden.

"Yeah.." You chuckled softly. You stepped onto the porch, noticing some plotted flowers on the windowsill. You raised your hand, pressing the doorbell. You waited a few minutes about to press it again before the door opened. A scowl appeared on Florines' face. She was shorter than you had imagined. Her hair was a bit messy and tied back into a low ponytail.

"Wat wil je?" She asked, gaze flickering over to Natasha. You swallowed, fiddling with your fingers.

"Are you Florine De Meyers?" You asked, watching her narrow her eyes.

"Who's asking?"

"(Y/N).. I think I might be the son of your brother." You said quietly. Florine stared at you, lips parting. Her features softened for a second before the frown returned. She opened the door wider, letting you and Natasha inside. The inside of the house smelled like black tea, earthy and floral. It felt straight out of a country movie.

"I've got some tea and speculoos." Florine called as she entered the kitchen. You looked at the pictures she had up. Most were pictures of horses or her at events with friends. You didn't see any pictures that seemed family related. You took a seat on the floral patterned couch, gazing dropping onto the unbothered elderly sheepdog. It made no attempt to move and simply rolled onto its side to face away from you.

"That's Gerdie. Old girl used to be a good guard dog but now she's more of a house cat." Florine said, sitting down and placing a tray on the coffee table. Natasha reached forward, taking one of the biscuits. Florine reached under the table, looking through the books she had before pulling out what looked like a photo book.

"The reason I didn't slam the door in your face is because Michael had told me he was gonna have a kid named (Y/N)." Florine said, hand wiping away the dust in the book. She scooted forward, placing the book on the table.

"Michael?" You repeated, looking at her. She nodded, opening the book. She flipped to the second page, pointing to a picture of a young boy by a fireplace opening presents.

"Michael, my half brother and your father." Your brows raised, leaning in to take a better look. The photo was old but you could see his face clearly. Natasha leaned in as well, smiling gently.

"You have his smile." She pointed out.

"Michael and his father moved here from America when he was about five. He met my mother and they got married. They had me when Michael was nine. He was a good brother. He held no resentment towards me or my mom. Michael was as stubborn as a mule and he could never keep his mouth shut. He'd let you know if he didn't agree with you." Florine chuckled, shaking her head. You watched the nostalgic look pass over her eyes.

"What happened to him?" You asked softly. Florine let out a heavy sigh, leaning back in her chair. She reached down, giving Gerdie some pats on the head.

"He disappeared for some time." She answered, gaze becoming distant.

"He wrote letters occasionally. Said he was working for a government in another country.. He might've been some sort of spy, my memory's a little fuzzy on the subject. He spent a long time working but.. He came back eventually. He never talked about it but he was good ole Michael." Florine leaned forward again, flipping to another page of a more grown up Michael. You did notice some similar features between him and you.

"By then, our father had passed from cancer and my mother needed all the help she could get. Michael built this house with some friends of his and gave it to my mother. Oh, my mother was so happy. She got the farm she had always wanted and got to garden whenever she could." Florine pointed to a a couple in the photobook.

"This is your grandmother, Sylvie. You would've loved her. She made the best cakes in town. This is your grandfather, Jonathan. He was always up to no good. He loved pulled helping the kids in town with pranks." Florine spoke of them fondly. Her childhood seemed to have been good with Jonathon and Sylvie.

"You have powers, right?" Florine asked, looking at you. You nodded, reaching out to the plant on the coffee table and watching it grow taller.

"She passed on her powers to you." Florine leaned back, clearing her throat. You glanced at Natasha, noticing her eating another biscuit.

"She? Who's she?" You asked, looking back at Florine.

"Your witch of a mother." She answered bitterly. You raised your brows at the hate and disgust in her tone.

"I shouldn't speak ill of her. Even if she deserves it." Florine muttered, standing up with a heavy sigh.

"C'mon." She motioned for you to follow. You turned towards Natasha. Natasha picked up another biscuit, making eye contact with you. You raised your brows.

"What? These are delicious!" Natasha huffed. You chuckled, standing up and following her out the backdoor. You noticed the stables with the horses walking around their fenced area. Florine had a vegetable garden and a greenhouse out back as well.

"Those pretty babies are Ernie, Kuma, and Goldie." Florine said, motioning to the horses. They approached the fence when she walked over to them. You smiled softly as she petted them, cooing in Dutch.

"They won't bite. Well, Ernie might but he's just a playful old man." Florine chuckled, turning back in the original direction. You followed her down a dirt path and into a wooded area. You blinked, seeing what looked like a moss covered statue of a woman. Her eyes were closed though her head was pointed downwards, looking at anyone who walked down the path.

"She was a charming little witch, I'll give her that." Florine crossed her arms, staring up at the statue. You tilted your head, licking your lips.

"Did he make this for her?" You asked, turning to look at her. Florine shook her head, looking down at the ground.

"Gaia, or better known as Mother Nature, is your mother. She took a human form in an attempt to convince humans to cherish what she had given them. When that proved useless, she spread plagues as punishment. What Gaia truly wanted.. Was a child. Animals, humans, and all those things were creations.. Projects she could ignore if she got bored. She met your father and he fell for her." Florine told you, another breeze blowing by. You reached your hand forward, gently touching a flower that rested by the statue. It felt full of life.

"Your mother fell pregnant with you and Michael was thrilled. Gaia had started realizing that human life wasn't for her. She was slowly becoming human herself. She disappeared with Michael and returned without him or you. She explained she couldn't stay and left her human body here."

"She abandonded me for no reason?" You stared up at the statue, features hardening.

"In some sense, she didn't. She's all around us so.. Your mother never truly left you." Florine said, turning to look at you. You scoffed.

"I have a mother. Her name is Laura Barton and she's not here anymore because of Thanos." You looked at Florine, blinking away tears.

"I don't blame you for being angry. I never found out where she took you or if you were even alive. If you want to keep in touch, I don't mind. Lord knows I could use the company." Florine looked forward again. You let out a soft sigh, shoulders slumping.

"And.. And dad? What happened to him?" You asked hesitantly, almost afraid of finding out he had done the same as Gaia. Florine stayed silent for a moment.

"He.. They never told me how it happened but.. He was murdered." Florine revealed, staring at the ground with a small frown. You stared at him, brows furrowing.

"What? By- By who?"

"You might've heard of him. People around town were talking about him a two or three years back. The infamous Winter Soldier."

~

Tags: @geek-and-proud @wolfelocksley @babyvisionisamenace

#x reader #x you #x y/n #x male reader #x male!reader #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x male reader #marvel x you #avengers #avengers x male reader #avengers x you #avengers x y/n #avengers x reader #clint barton #clint barton x adopted reader #natasha romanoff #bucky barnes #tony stark

[sweetjazzygirl]

Help Miracle Mercado, a 20 year old, victim of ab//s//

this is a story of a young adult, 20 year old victim, born 2000, November 28

I'm sorry for some mistakes and typos, i was tired so i will fix them later when i have the chance

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️

the post will contain, Domestic violence and ab//s//, mention of R//p// and s//xu//l a//s//ult, Bullying, and many more

⚠️WARNING⚠️

if you PLAN to share this on Facebook and Instagram, i have to inform you her 'family' is using them, entire family using Facebook and a "dad" and a "brother" (they don't deserve those terms) using Instagram so please, be careful, i can't leak them due to knowing people will attack them for ab//s// which will lead her life probably to an end

I WILL LEAVE Q&A IN THIS POST, PLEASE KEEP READING THIS BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS, YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE IN THIS POST!!

Miracle (short name Mira) Mercado is a 20 year old young woman, lives in Pennsylvania, Mira has suffered so much ab//s// since birth and currently, she's now only being emotionally abused than physically (used to be abused physically)

Mira has been bullied in school because she was born in the toilet, calling her "toilet baby" (it's been confirmed she was born in it), she was 6 months old after birth, Mira died 3 times at the hospital as an infant which she deserved the name "Miracle" for surviving

but unfortunately, Mira didn't get the happiest childhood she deserved, she was being abused, pushed in, punched by, insulted, many HORRIFYING stuff, all by her entire 'family' except her grandma, the mother of Mira's "Mother", who stood by her side and passed away due to cancer because of her daughter's (Mira's 'Mother') death wish

Mira had a teacher at 9th grade with her before but her luck vanished as her teacher left her because the school threatened to fire her and suddenly told Mira's "Dad" everything, causing the r//p// to happen as possibly a punishment (as what i've heard)

Mira also got as//au//ted, instead of support she got victim blamed by her 'family', her "Dad" blames Mira for also his parents death

To let you know, his parents were also behind the abuse as well, he forced her, her as a child that time to take care of them instead of his lazy ass to do so, forcing her to watch them all night while he gets all the rest and after all that, Mira's 'grandparents' (her "Dad"'s Parents) passed away due to lack of treatment. Mira even mentioned she was told she looked just like his mom which is unknowingly if he could be abusing her because of that as if he and his brother were abused in their entire life as well

Mira also mentioned her cousin was crushing on her older 'sister', unknown if he still does

Mira is also Asexual but her entire 'family' are LGBTphobic, her oldest 'brother' and 'father' never stop making sexual jokes, no matter how much it can be uncomfortable

Mira's entire 'family' also mocks people with disabilities and mental illness, this includes Mira as well since she's suffering with a disability and mental illness so she's being mocked and made fun of, they also tend to have no respect for people who are into dark stuff (goths and emos, she's into Goth stuff)

Mira also had pets before but that faded away because of her sick minded 'father' and 'brother', i also have to mention that her 'dad' and his brother abused his own dog who was old at that time for their entire life, Mira's oldest 'brother' also locks dogs and cats in basement because he can't stand them meowing and barking, Mira had dogs, one is a brown puppy, male, got kicked by her 'Dad' and one is an old fluffy white dog, female, kicked by her 'brother', she also had a cat on her own but it's known it got kicked out as well (currently, her 'mom' has a cat so yes, she's a cat person as well for an abuser)

a picture of Mira's dog before losing her (the only picture she has left)

Mira had lost everything by the hands of those devils, only to make her life like hell

Her 'mom' also has a boyfriend (her 'parents' are not married, but one of the siblings are half), who's an abuser as well and was sent to prison, he could've gotten out this month (march) right now

Her family also starves her as they give her only little food or nothing at all, making her underweight and then saying the stupidest words "you look awful" like of course she look awful, you devils straight up made her life a living hell

Mira's 'sister' has a room for her own but her selfishness decided to use Mira's room instead, having the power to control it and because of it Mira can't do anything

Mira used to have that card where she gets food to survive but they took it from her and has control in it, so they use her name to get the food for themselves, making her starving

i may not be the type of a person who'd leak pictures of faces but this is for the best, if you ever found them, especially with Mira, please i'd love for you to save her staying away from them

i didn't get the pictures of the older and younger 'brothers' but i hope this helps

Now for the questions and answers

"Did she called the police/has anyone reported it?"

Her online school did but unfortunately, the police didn't believe her and she couldn't say anything because 1- she was being watched by her 'brother' to make sure "she doesn't talk shit" (more like "she doesn't expose their crimes") and 2- her 'Dad' uses his overweight body and mental illness as an excuse against her

"Why didn't she ran away?"

She did once but was forced to go back now it's very difficult for her to run away so she needs a plan

"Does she has anyone else to live with?"

Her 'friends' but they kicked her out because they hated her, for no reason so sadly, she doesn't have anyone else to live with

"Does she have evidence of abuse?"

Fortunately yes, she does and i'd like to share them but some of them are graphic so..

"Does she have enough money to get out?"

She's poor, she doesn't have a job because they don't let her but she at least gains them but it won't be that easy because they're stealing it from her (she's currently living with her 'mom' and 'sister'

"Can't she defend herself?"

They get more angry when she tries to defend herself, believe me, abusers gets the power whenever the victim tries to defend themselves

"what can I do to help?"

If you live in the same state as her and found her walking around the street, alone or with her member family, help her to escape at all cost and DON'T let one of them take her away (her 'Dad' has a car so watch out), i'd also to love if one of you created a GoFundMe page for her since she used to have one but it got removed, also show her support

i got Instagram highlight where i share her life story

Mira's profile, she also created a highlight of her abused life story as well

Note: if you're the type of person who makes fun of people for self insert and such, i suggest you to get out, this is an abused victim we're talking about here and if you're careless so much about it then i hope you rot in hell

Please, be gentle with her, she's sensitive and doesn't take it well. she needs help to escape this help

thank you very much

#abuse awareness #domestic violence awareness #awareness #please help her please

[justanotherlifeff]

Levi Ackerman × reader

Genre: Angst, Hurt/comfort, Fluff, matured themes, slowburn

Warning: There's mentions and descriptions of underage rape and suicidal themes and self harm and other triggering stuff. MENTIONS OF SMUT

[Author's note: I forgot to mention that I assumed that the army burial grounds were in Capital Mitras, given that its the safest place within the Walls. The burial grounds doesn't necessarily have bodies underneath the headstones as many survey corps soldiers don't have their bodies recovered after expeditions. There's a different section in the burial grounds for soldiers whose bodies weren't recovered. The headstones there are cluttered together.]

No one's POV

(Y/N) was sitting with Levi in a carriage. Levi held her close to him, with one of his arm around her. He was genuinely worried about her as he witnessed her going through one of the toughest situation a person can possibly go through. Levi knew that because he went through something similar when Kenny left him. (Y/N) told him all about how things went with Pixis on their ride to the military burial grounds. (Y/N) rarely cried and watching her cry made his heart wrench. He wanted to see her happy for every second of her life. Sure, she was trying her best to accept the situation as it is but he knew that she was torn inside. It was just a matter of time before she vented it out. They were on their way to the scout regiment branch. Hanji and the others were already there and they were running late. Levi and (Y/N) had to report to Erwin just as they reached and Levi had a bad feeling that Erwin must've known everything about (Y/N).

After reaching, the first thing they did was going to Erwin's office. Hanji was in there when they entered. She just reported about the mission. As she was leaving, she gave (Y/N) a sympathetic smile before getting out of the room. (Y/N) and Levi reported everything related to the mission before (Y/N) started, "and, I found my biological mother." looking straight at Erwin's eyes. Erwin shifted in his seat. He didn't expect to hear this. "I see. Did you talk to her?" he asked softly. "Yes. Did you know about Commander Pixis, Uncle Erwin? That he's my biological father?" (Y/N) asked, with a cold stare at Erwin. Erwin sighed at that and said, "Yes I knew. He mentioned it when he asked me to train you."

"Ah. And why didn't you ever say it to me?" (Y/N) asked in a cold voice. "(Y/N), you had a good family. If I told you about it, you would've wanted to go to Commander Pixis and of course, you would've been disappointed. I rescued you from that place, (Y/N). I didn't want to see you get hurt anymore." Erwin said as he got up from his seat and walked towards (Y/N). (Y/N) sighed at the reply. He wasn't wrong. She was glad that he didn't tell her about it when she was younger. She probably wouldn't be able to accept the situation. "Uncle Erwin, I had to ask something from you." (Y/N) looked away from Erwin and said in a soft voice. "What is it?" Erwin asked. "I want you to walk me down the aisle." (Y/N) told Erwin, still looking away.

"I.. I'd be honoured to do that, (Y/N)" Erwin answered, surprised by the sudden request. He saw (Y/N) almost like a daughter and he knew that he was a father figure to (Y/N). It was natural that she would ask him to do this at some point but it still surprised him, given that he hid the fact that Pixis was (Y/N)'s real father and that (Y/N) just recently found out. "Uncle Erwin?" (Y/N) called out, throwing Erwin out of his thoughts. "Yes?" he asked. "Thank you" (Y/N) told him with a smile, before walking out of the door.

"That was unexpected" Levi told Erwin casually. He was watching the whole thing silently. "Yes. Indeed" Erwin answered, still quiet shaken. "Well, I'll take my leave now" Levi told him before leaving the room and following (Y/N).

Levi POV

(Y/N) was waiting for me outside Erwin's room. I certainly didn't expect (Y/N) to forgive Erwin so easily. I wanted to kill him because Mike Zacharias threw my face in a puddle and he supported it. Sure, I grew up, I stopped taking small things like that seriously, but, (Y/N) is much younger than I am and such maturity is hard to come by. I motioned her to follow me back to my room and she did what I asked.

When we reached my room, the first thing (Y/N) did after getting her shoes off was, she sat on my bed. "(Y/N), you're filthy now. At least change those clothes before sitting anywhere..." I tried to tell her but was interrupted by the look on her face. She was crying. Not like the few drops of tears in the burial grounds, she had water streaming from her face and she was sobbing quietly. I walked towards (Y/N) and hugged her. Her sobbing increased as she kept saying "Why me?" and "What did I do wrong?".

I patted her head awkwardly and told her, "You're not the one who's wrong. What's wrong, is this world.". I didn't know how to comfort her better than this. She continued to sob. "(Y/N), we'll be better parents than them. Our child will never have to face something like this. I promise, (Y/N), I'll make sure our child gets to grow up in a world without Titans or bad people." I found myself telling her. She looked at me, teary eyed. "You think we'll be good parents?" she asked me. "I don't know (Y/N). All I know is that we will try our best." I answered. She hugged me as I answered. Her sobbing stopped. Her mouth was still carved into a frown and her eyes still watery. "Let's take a bath, okay? You'll feel better when we are clean" I told her. Being clean of course made everything better.

She smiled at me and said, "How are you planning to tolerate our child? Apparantly children are supposed to be dirty". "I'll train them how to clean themselves and how to clean the house" I grunted. That somehow made (Y/N) laugh. "They are children, Levi. Not dogs." she said. "What's the difference? Both are nagging small things." I answered. At least, that's how I remembered my childhood, Kenny training me around. I think I turned out pretty well.

"I guess I'll have to give you the parenting book in Uncle Erwin's collection." (Y/N) sighed as she got up from the bed. "Huh? Why does Erwin have a parenting book?" I questioned, curious about the whole deal. "Well, he used parenting tricks on me to trick me to listen to him when we trained. Unfortunately, I came across the book and read it and tried to use a few tricks on him too. He caught on with that soon obviously." (Y/N) answered, sounding nostalgic. "Ah, I see. I'd read it then. Go take a bath now. You're getting my room filthy" I told (Y/N) as she ran to the bathroom.

2 months later

No One's POV

(Y/N) was helping Historia manage the kids in the orphanage. She had been learning a few tricks into making kids like her. Historia made her own orphanage using all the property seized from the lords. Many board meetings were held to discuss the backlash from other aristocrats but in the end, Historia ended up getting more public support than ever. Levi backed the whole thing up as the captain of the survey corps since he was from the underground, and so did Erwin, given that he had a niece who was born in the underground. (Y/N) made more name for herself as she personally carried out an operation to rescue as much children as possible from the underground along with her squad.

The media caused quiet a backlash though, now that the news of her engagement with Levi, her sudden promotion and the fact that she was unmarried and pregnant went widespread in the walls. Her past was brought up, headlines were made about the murder she committed back when she was a child.

As an answer to all these, (Y/N) finally decided to talk about her past to the media. She told them all she remembered about her life in the underground, how she was molested by Jacob and how the murder was just self defence. She of course, never mentioned Pixis since she didn't consider him as her father.

Questions that were raised about her character were hushed down when she told the media, "My promotion doesn't have anything to do with my relationship with Levi heichou. I have my own walls between my personal life and my career. If any of you made the effort to read the newspaper from when wall Rose was breached, you could see that I was branded as humanity's strongest woman. If any of you still have any faith in that, then you would know that my promotion was justified. And about my pregnancy, the problem with everyone was that the fact that I had a physical relationship before marriage, right? Well, I've had that when I was 5. I was brought up in the upper class whorehouses and I am pretty sure many of the nobles in wall Sina did unspeakable things to me. If any of you try to talk about what's right and wrong, you should go find them instead of pointing fingers at me."

The survey corps moved back to Trost, given that the next expedition will take place from there. Levi had already got the ownership of the house he paid for and he also ordered furniture for the house, which would be ready by the time the operation to take back Wall Maria was over. While Levi was busy with a pile of paperwork, (Y/N) visited the orphanage with the supply wagons from Trost along with Levi squad. She often learned new things about children here, and it seemed like the children, particularly the ones from the underground were very fond of her. A while later, Historia went off to talk to Eren and the others, who were lazing off near the fence, leaving (Y/N) with two of the children that she was playing with.

One thing the children did when they saw (Y/N) was that they asked her to tell them stories about fighting titans. When the two kids ran towards her as Historia left, she wasn't surprised. "(Y/N)-san! Tell us a story!" one of them said in an excited voice. (Y/N) smiled slightly, "Which one do you want to hear about? The one where I killed over thirty titans?" she asked, knowing that this was the most popular story so far. "No. We want to know how things were with you in the underground" the shy looking boy in the duo meekly told her. "Ah. I see." (Y/N) sighed. They never asked her about her life in the underground but given that they were from down there too, it was natural. "You look sad, (Y/N)-san... You don't have to tell us..." they tried to back away, seeing (Y/N)'s gloomy face.

"It's not that. I just... Hey, did you two know that there was a huge gap in the underground? You could see sunlight there." (Y/N) said, trying to lighten the environment, which turned out to be successful. "There really was a place like that?" one of the boys asked with a curious place. "Yes. I used to run away from the place I lived in to go see the sunlight there. I was always caught though." (Y/N) answered. "(Y/N)-san, how did you feel after coming up here?" the shy boy asked. "Well, I was so happy that it all felt like a dream. Turns out it wasn't a dream" (Y/N) answered with a smile as she ruffled both the kids hair.

"Well, I should be going now. Be good kids okay?" (Y/N) told them with a smile as they nodded to (Y/N) with smiling faces. (Y/N) walked towards Levi squad, who were done taking the supplies in the orphanage, and told them, "It's time to head back. I'll have to get paperwork for the shipment done and I don't have any intention to stay up the night.".

Sure, (Y/N) was on pregnancy leave but that didn't mean she wouldn't do office work. She even managed to train her squad once a week. She mostly advised them how to fight though since moving around too much made her feel nauseous. With a lot of arguments, (Y/N) was able to convince Erwin to let her attend the night time expeditions to create a pathway to Shiganshina for the first month but after that, as (Y/N)'s morning sickness only got worse, she had to take a pregnancy leave after being forced into it by Erwin and Levi.

(Y/N) was back in the Survey Corps HQ by evening. She entered the room to find a very stressed out Levi, who was sitting at his table, surrounded by piles of paperwork. (Y/N) had some delivered to her by someone in her squad. "How did the meeting go?" (Y/N) asked him. Levi attended an important meeting while (Y/N) was helping out Historia with supplies. The meeting was supposed to be about ensuring the date of the operation to reclaim wall Maria. After all, the survey corps were as prepared as they can be.

Hanji made amazing discoveries. Hanji, single handedly, along with Eren's powers, made the executioner from hell, a guillotine for Titans. She also had plans to make a weapon against the armoured titan, one she said, will be completed in a matter of weeks. "Erwin entrusted me with the titan serum." Levi told in his monotonous voice. "Oh..." (Y/N) replied softly. She knew what that meant. However, trusting Levi with such a big responsibility was scary for her. That man suffered enough and this would only increase it if he had to make a tough decision. After all, the decision of who gets to live and who gets to die is one that no person should ever have to make.

Both of their paperwork were done in about two hours. (Y/N), like always, went and sat on Levi's lap, kissing him as he kissed back. Their daily routine consisted of sex after paperwork. "Are we really going to have normal old sex again?" (Y/N) sighed as Levi turned his attention to (Y/N)'s neck. "I don't want to hurt the baby" Levi muttered as he continued kissing her neck. "I asked Hanji. She said being a bit rough won't hurt" (Y/N) answered to that. "Why were you talking to her about our sex life?" Levi looked at her this time, his expression showing irritation.

"Well, I want Heichou." (Y/N) pouted as she started unbuttoning Levi's shirt. "Don't tempt me (Y/N). I've been storing my desires for a long time." Levi sighed, as he worked on getting (Y/N)'s shirt off. "What do you wanna do to me, Heichou?" (Y/N) asked Levi, with a smirk as she helped Levi get her shirt off. "Tie you up and fuck you on my table?" Levi murmured as he attacked (Y/N)'s breast with his mouth. "Please do it to me Heichou. Your slut needs you" (Y/N) kept on tempting him, using the exact words he taught her to say. At this, Levi looked straight at her eyes and asked, "Does Hanji know what she's talking about?". " I'm certain she does." (Y/N) whispered before yelping as Levi threw her on his table, using the neckerchief resting on his table to tie her hands before saying, "I'll kill her if this harms the baby" and drowning the room in (Y/N)'s moans and the sound of sex.

A week later

"How far are you? I still have a stack left" (Y/N) asked Levi. They were sitting at his table, trying to get rid of their stacks of paperwork so that they can get into their daily sexual activities. "Still have two stacks left. You've gotten faster at this" Levi muttered. (Y/N) just smiled slightly and continued with her work. Suddenly, the door busted open and Hanji entered the room, again, without knocking.

"Hanji, how many times will I have to tell you to knock?" Levi told her, looking at her with his usual stoic expression. "Don't be so fussy, Levi. Oi (Y/N), you're the only other smart person around here who can help me out a bit as Erwin is too old to understand technology. Come with me to my office right now!" Hanji exclaimed, looking excited. "I have paperwork" (Y/N) answered to that in a monotone voice. "Aww come on! Paperwork won't save people!" Hanji whined. "(Y/N), get her out of here. She's giving me a headache" Levi remarked, not looking up from the document he was working on. (Y/N) sighed at that and followed a jumping and excited Hanji out of the room.

4 hours later

"So, it has to be a portable device that can break the armoured Titan's armour. The reports from back when wall Maria fell said that cannons couldn't break the armour and so we need something more portable and faster moving than the average cannon ball, according to your theory." (Y/N) summed up the case after reading all the reports, multiple books on physics that Hanji threw at her, and several design ideas that failed. At this point, (Y/N) was wondering why she skipped sex and spent the night brainstorming with Hanji. "Well, yes. The interior police gears have fast moving bullets but those are too small to get any effect on the armour. Its also not possible to give cannon balls that much speed, not with the technology available to us anyway." Hanji muttered, looking at a failed design.

"If there was a way to use the weak spots between the armour and use some sort of force to crack the armour like a walnut..." (Y/N) muttered before she looked like her head was about to explode. "Wait, why does it have to be big or speedy if we can just explode whole chunks of armour off? If we can make oversized bullets with explosives inside them, find a way to shoot them in the weaker points in the armour, the outer hard layer could be blasted off with the force. It just needs a design like some sort of spear so that it could be stuck to the weak spots instead of rolling off like cannon balls." (Y/N) stated with wide eyes.

"Wow. That didn't really cross my mind. However, to shoot them to stick to the weak point and to keep a safe distance, we need to make them somewhat like firecrackers and use some other way to tick the explosive off when its out of the hand" Hanji muttered as she furiously started making a design with all the math. "Glad I could help." (Y/N) told her as she yawned before she went back to Levi's room.

(Y/N) was woken by Levi's rapid shaking. "5 more minutes Levi" (Y/N) muttered, facing away from Levi. "Eren remembered that the man with his father was Keith Shadis. We are going to meet him now. Get up" Levi told her, trying to drag her out of the bed. "I don't give a fuck Levi. Let me sleep." (Y/N) groaned as she threw a pillow at Levi, which he ducked easily. "Suit yourself" Levi muttered as he got out of the room as (Y/N) drifted back off to sleep.

When she woke up again, it was almost evening. She walked into Levi's office to find him getting done with some big stacks of paperwork. "So you're up" Levi stated, not looking up from the document he was working on. "Seems like it. What happened at ex commander shadis's place?" (Y/N) asked with an yawn. "Nothing much. He didn't have much information to give. One thing is certain though. Eren's father was a man from outside the wall. Erwin suspects it. The expedition will take place after 2 days" Levi informed (Y/N). "Oh" (Y/N) quietly answered. Given that the beast titan, the armoured titan and the colossal titan were still at large, this mission was really dangerous. (Y/N) knew that as long as the colossal titan was there, the wall cannot be sealed. She looked at Levi, watching him sign documents with furrowed eyebrows. "This had to be tough for him, he would have to see more death", (Y/N) thought.

(Y/N) POV

I walked towards Levi and sat on his lap. "I'm not done with paperwork yet" he stated the obvious because I usually sat on his lap before sex. "I know. I just want to hold you." I answered, cupping his face with my hands. He still had a frown on his mouth but his expression was calm and gratified. I ran one of my hands through his soft hair, his undercut brushing against my skin. His eyes were showing a lot of emotions. Fear, sorrow, determination, love, it was a mixture of those.

"Levi, just come back alive. That's all I ask from you. About the titan serum, I know it's hard to make a choice. You deserve better than this but just don't regret any choice you make." I told him, pressing my forehead against his. "I know. I'll be back for you and him." Levi muttered, placing a hand on my stomach. "It could be a 'her' too you know" I stated with a smile. "I don't care as long as it's healthy." Levi said before kissing me. I kissed back, trying to how him my love for him through it. We broke the kiss after a few moments. "Go eat something. Your mouth smells disgusting" he stated as I got off his lap.

I went out to the room to go find some food in the kitchen. The cook was glad to heat up the food that Levi asked them to save for me from lunch. After eating, I decided to make Levi some tea. I walked into the now empty kitchen, as the cook was waiting for me to get my food back then and left when I took it, used a chair to fetch Levi's packet of tea from a cupboard that I otherwise couldn't reach and made some black tea. I poured a cup for him without any sugar and went towards our room. Levi looked at me, his face radiating approval as I set the warm tea in front of him. "I made a good decision" he muttered as he sipped the tea. "Hmm?" I asked him, confused about what decision he was talking about.

"The decision of proposing you if you're wondering what decision I'm talking about." he muttered, breaking my confusion. "It's just tea" I told him with a smile. "Well, it's thoughtful of you. How did you get the tin of tea leaves?" Levi asked after giving one of his rare compliments. "I got on a chair" I answered as I sat on a chair in front of Levi. I didn't have any paperwork today, so, I decided to watch Levi work. "I told you not to get on chairs. What if you fell?" Levi asked me in his usual authoritative voice. "Levi, I fought people while I'm pregnant. Its just a chair" I answered to that.

He was getting more protective every day and even if it was a nice thing, it was sort of annoying. "I forgot to mention. I've set the wedding date at two weeks after the expedition. Hanji begged me to let her do the planning. The furniture are almost ready and will be delivered on the day of the expedition. I need you to get the house decorated" Levi mentioned as he sipped the tea. A smile formed on my face as I thought that even in midst of all the tension, there was a good news.

The next day

The expedition was to take place the next day at evening. The whole Survey corps headquarter was quiet the whole day, everyone trying to acknowledge the fact that they could be walking into their deaths the next day. After all, there weren't many veterans left in the survey corps, the 57th expedition and the breaching of wall Rose took a huge toll on the Survey Corps. The night time expeditions weren't enough to give the new recruits the experience to deal with a vital mission like this one. Every time I thought about the 57th expedition, the image of the old squad Levi's deaths seemed to be projected in front of me.

Too many lives were lost in vain. I however, didn't regret Petra's death. The day went by without much exception from any other day in the survey corps, just helping Levi with his huge stacks of paperwork, that was until, dinner was served. I knew that meat would be served today as Levi mentioned their deal with the Reeves company to me. "Hanji got Flegel Reeves to get all those brats meat for the night before the expedition. I managed to cut a deal about free tea leaves" he said while we were working our way through the stacks of paperwork. As expected, the whole crowd were fighting over the meat, even after Sasha was tied up. I however, gagged at the smell of it.

I still stuffed myself with as much as I can without puking as I probably won't get the chance to eat beef anytime soon, given that its rare and expensive. Way too much expensive. A fight between Jean and Eren broke out a while later, which lasted for a while till Levi got up and kicked them in the stomach, with Jean puking as a result. Knowing very well that the smell would make me puke, I got out of the dining hall as fast as possible. I went to Levi's room, waited for him for a while and went back out to search for him. I found him sitting at a corner of the survey corps headquarter, behind a wall. On the other side of the wall, Armin was talking to Eren and Mikasa about how they would see the so called "ocean". They used to talk about it back in the trainee corps days.

Levi looked at me, a mug of alcohol in his hand as I sat beside him. He didn't say anything and we kept listening to the trio, their voices so excited as they talked about their dreams. Levi took a chug from his mug as he got a hand around my waist, pulling me closer. The trio left after a while. "Why didn't you drink back at our room?" I asked him. "I assumed that you would feel left out." he simply answered, finishing off his mug. We sat there silently for a while before Levi spoke up again. "They remind me of Farlan and Isabelle. Farlan was so curious about the world up here while Isabelle just wanted freedom from the confined underground. I just wanted to make sure their dreams came true. Now that they aren't here anymore, I don't even know why I'm still fighting. Probably because Erwin convinced me to follow him. He surely sees something beyond the walls that I can't." Levi sighed before looking at me and asking, "What do you think about this so called 'ocean'? Do you want to see it too?".

"I'm not fighting for something like that. I don't care if all there is out of the wall is more barren land. I just want to make sure that I won't loose my family ever again. The titans took my parents from me. I can't loose any more. However, it seems like everyone I care about is risking their lives for the same cause..." I muttered. "(Y/N), let's go back. I don't want you to catch a cold" Levi announced before getting up, not looking drunk at all. That man had an amazing alcohol tolerance.

The next day

I woke up late. Levi was already gone. If they didn't feed us that goddamned meat last night, I wouldn't have been puking all day and sleeping like a log due to fatigue. I dressed up as fast as possible, hoping to find the survey corps battalion still rallied up. I ran to the stable, got on my horse and galloped towards the wall of Trost. The battalion wasn't gone yet but they were being carried over the wall by lifts. I hoped that Levi and Uncle Erwin weren't gone yet. I took my horse to a nearby stable, paid a stable boy to look after it and ran towards the rally. I saw Levi, Uncle Erwin and Hanji waiting for the lift with their squads.

I walked towards them and asked Levi, "Why didn’t you wake me up?". " You didn't look like you wanted to be waken" he simply answered, receiving a sigh from me. "Anyway, I was here to wish you all good luck." I smiled at them. "Hanji, don't be reckless or die. I need to go shop for a wedding dress with you." I told Hanji as she gave me a small smile. Everyone here were wearing solemn expressions. Levi squad walked towards me before I was able to say anything to Uncle Erwin. "Did you come to see us off?" Connie asked me with a smile. "Yes I did. You guys, don't die." I told them, giving them all a big group hug.

"Oi Mikasa, protect them too along with Eren" I told Mikasa as she nodded at me. "We aren't kids (Y/N)..." Eren started but was cut off by Jean who was saying something about respecting the fact that I care. I slipped away from the group and walked back to Uncle Erwin and Levi. "Uncle Erwin, promise me you'll be back alive. I need you at my wedding" I told Uncle Erwin. He smiled at me as he put on his hand on my shoulder before saying, "I won't miss it for the world". Happy with his answer, I turned to Levi and told him, "Don't die, okay?". " I won't" he replied. "Make sure uncle Erwin comes back" I told him. "I will" he answered as he was called to get on the lift.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, we all know what would happen to Erwin... Well, in respect for him, I'll be writing my second spin off chapter, the one which states of the time (Y/N) spent in the orphanage after the fall of wall Maria before jumping into Erwin's death. I'm trying to give (Y/N) some character development before working my way up to new chapters where she will be leading her own squad in future expeditions.]

To be continued...

Taglist: @reality-is-often-disappointing, @kingtamakimurder

#levi smut #levi aot #shingeki no kyoujin levi #levi attack on titan #levi x reader #levi x fem!reader #levi×reader #levi ackerman #captain levi

[staytiny-angel]

War of Hearts

Chapter One

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Seth Rollins/Becky Lynch

Co-written with @riottbliss

Summary: Seth Rollins was once known as the Bad Boy Prince of MMA, now years after a career ending knee injury he's stepping into.the Octagon again not as a competitor but as his little sister's coach. Unfortunately for him the redhead across the cage from he and Paige is not only woman he'd just had a one night stand with but the younger sister and protege of the Finn Balor...the man that ended Seth's career.

Warnings: MMA style violence, Alcoholism, Implied Self-Harm (DM for details), Depression, Angst with a Happy Ending

Hunter Hearst Helmsley, or professionally known by Triple-H sighed with embarrassment, reading tweet after tweet from his youngest son Seth Rollins.

"What happened to him?" His best friend and practically brother Shawn Michaels asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Cody took him out of the press conference, Seth's hungover, blaming everyone but himself"

Shawn shook his head, "Kid is letting the hype go to his brain. He's all over TMZ, The Bad Boy Prince of MMA is what they call him"

"Seth is the best fighter in the world in his division. He's earned the cockiness but his lifestyle…." Hunter shook his head

Shawn made a disgusted sound. "Kid reminds me of me before I got my act together"

"Fatherhood is what made you get your act together. That won't work for Seth" Hunter clicked on a video of his drunken son yelling into a camera about Finn Balor that had gone viral last week.

"He talks so much shit about Balor being a low rent MacGregor, hell Seth acts more like Conor then Finn does."

Hunter sighed "He's turned this into a complete mess, I wouldn't be surprised if his team drops him."

"Hey, Dusty loved that kid, Dustin and Cody wouldn't release him until he stopped making them money"

Hunter nodded but looked nonetheless unthrilled.

"He keeps making excuses about everything. I'm this close to calling Steph"

Shawn nodded with agreement as the two entered Seth's penthouse, greeting a tired looking Cody Rhodes. "I can't do this anymore Hunter" he said in place of a normal greeting.

"You are not dropping him" Hunter said matter of factly.

"AEF is supposed to be for fighters that respect the sport, he fucks around and doesn't even show up to the gym" Cody said.

Hunter ignored him and went upstairs to where he could hear his youngest groaning in misery.

Hunter sighed as Seth looked up from the toilet he was practically hugging. "I'm twenty five, perfectly legal" he muttered, Hunter's gaze looking at the black and gold championship that laid discarded.

"While ago you would have treated that with respect" He said, Seth rolling his eyes. "Would you rather me puke on it? It's just a fucking belt' "

"Don't let anyone hear you say that" Hunter said lowly. "You're going to the weigh in today even if I have to drag you by your hair there myself"

"No the fuck I'm not, don't you see me dyin' here?" Seth whined "I'm going to fucking sleep"

"What the fuck happened to you?!" Hunter yells "Every since your Uncle Shane became your manager this is what you've turned into."

Seth looked unfazed. "Don't get angry because I'm better than you ever were" and shoved his father out of his way, flipping off Cody, and ignoring Shawn.

"What am I going to do with him?" Hunter sighed, exhausted.

"Knock his ass out?" Shawn suggested. "I'll take care of him" Cody rolled his eyes. "Britt and I will make sure he gets to the weigh in. I just need painkillers and food"

"I'm gonna go talk to Shane, I want to know what kind of garbage he's been filling my kid's head with" Hunter mutters

"I told you listening to Vince was a mistake." Shawn replies shaking his head "All of you let Vince snow you into thinking it was embarrassing that his mother managed him"

Hunter sighed. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to drag Steph back, Shane has a tight grip on him"

"Worry about that fuckface later" Shawn said. "Seth needs you, not him" Hunter nodded firmly, making his way downstairs to see Seth passed out on his couch, his dog Kevin and cat Daryl laying on him.

"This was our compromise" Cody explained. "I let him take a nap, he goes to the weigh in later"

"He isn't going to beat Balor in this condition. He doesn't spar anymore and his knee has been inflamed for weeks" Britt says quietly

"He shouldn't even be fighting. We told Shane but he says there's too much money at stake for Seth to pull out"

"Money money money"' Shawn mocked. "All he cares about is fucking printed paper"

Hunter ignored them and instead chose to brush back some of Seth's hair, his son unconsiously responding to it. "What did I do wrong raising him?" he asked. Hunter rolls his eyes at the look his older brother gave him "The truth" he says quietly

"No offense bro, but this family is a whole fucking lot to live up to and you weren't exactly shy about your expectations once Seth showed an aptitude for the sport. None of us were. I have to even ask myself, when was the last time any of us actually had a conversation with the kid that wasn't about fighting?"

"He's cracking underneath the pressure" Cody chimes in

"Yeah, he is and now Shane is filling his head with all these ideas about the image he should project" Shawn continues "Quiet guys who, play with their dogs and write poetry when their not in the Octagon don't sell tickets, but Bad Boys sure the fuck do."

*Later*

Seth scowled at his phone as Britt ushered him into the arena the weigh was taking place in. "I'm assuming you told the press he was gonna bail?" Cody growled at Shane who held his hands up. "They were gonna find out sooner or later" "Yeah yeah, no press is bad press" Seth said.

"Except the press says you're an asshole" Cody deadpanned. "Don't do anything stupid up there, or Mark is going to have a stroke" Seth didn't respond, instead heading up the stairs to the stage, where Balor had clearly made weight, despite being skinny. Seth took off his shirt per usual, standing on the scale.

"197 pounds" The announcer said, Seth smirking at Balor. The Irish man looked unfazed and rolled his eyes. Seth, in a act of annoyance, promptly flipped him off, hearing everyone in the crowd either laugh or groan

-Backstage -

"Gonna be fun beating your ass Balor, I promise not to hurt you too badly," Seth says cockily, slouching in a chair and putting his sunglasses back on.

"Oh, Rolly its almost time to give up your precious" Finn responds, "Clock is ticking boyo and your time is almost up"

"Mon roi, nous devons-oh shit" a pake woman walked up, speaking rapid French and stopping in her place when she saw Seth.

"Hey Seth" she said coldly.

"Vi" Seth responded, his attitude gone.

"He your king now?" "Surprised you even remember any French, from what I read, you've drank yourself through everything"

"It's what happens when you give your heart to someone and get it ripped in half, I wasn't enough for you, that's what you said right? I wasn't straight enough for you?! So you threw my ring in my face and left" Seth yelled "Cause Bisexual people, we're all cheaters didn't you know?"

At least according to Violet Gillath, wait I'm sorry Violet Balor now isn't it?."

"Stop it" Finn growled. "Before I knock your ass out now"

"Try it bitch" Seth snarled back.

Violet got between them and shoved Seth back. "Chaton, stop" she hissed.

Seth stumbled upon hearing his old nickname. "Why?" he choked out. "What did I do?"

Seth shook his head as if to shake his thoughts into place "Why Violet? Why did you leave me? You...you fucking broke me" he said in a small voice "I have the right to know why, just tell me. Why would you do that after everything. I was going to quit fighting for you because you didn't like seeing what it was turning me into. You get up on stage and you still sing my songs, but you said you hated me. I just wanna know."

Violet crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "I didn't want to be with you. You never signed anything so legally those songs are mine. I said what I meant, you weren't enough"

Seth looked like she had rebroken his heart.

Thankfully Britt walked in. "Hey, we gotta go"

Seth grabbed his title and held it to Finn. "This is mine. You can keep that bitch but you will never get this"

-Backstage-

"I've never known you to be biphobic, wanna explain to me why Rollins is convinced you are?" Finn said sitting down in his locker room with his wife a few minutes later.

"His uncle...manager, that bastard Shane got me my record deal in exchange for breaking Seth's heart" Violet told her husband "Seth hates fighting, he was going to quit and go on the road with me. He can't sing a note but he writes and plays guitar. We were going to be a duo. Shane was watching his cash cow walk out the door. So he threatened me and made an offer. Seth was the sweetest thing and he loved me and I broke his heart and let Shane turn him into that"

"If I could go back in time and slap him across the face I would but I can't" Violet said brokenly. "Shane has made it perfectly clear that if I ever tell him that he would ruin both our careers"

Finn hugged her to him. "I'm still gonna kick his ass" Violet slapped his arm. "Please try not to" Finn shrugged. "I'm undefeated"

"You know Seth is too. And the thing with being undefeated is that there's only one way down, being kicked off the mountain"

-Next Day-

Seth was throwing up again having had drank himself to sleep following his encounter with his ex.

Cody looked extremely tired and Britt concerned. "You have to fight in an hour!" Cody yelled out

"I don't fucking care." Seth yelled back "I don't even want to fucking fight." He muttered to himself, as he rubbed at his knee. "Come on fucking give already." He whispered to the inflamed appendage.

He knew what he was doing was dangerous but it was his only way out. If his knee would just give up the fucking ghost, he could quit this bullshit once and for all.

"Your sisters are out there tonight" Britt said, walking in, holding a brace.

"I really don't care" Seth growled, letting Britt put his knee in it.

"And your mom' Britt added. Seth took a breath when Britt touched his knee.

"Holy shit, it feels like its burning"

We're letting you go after tonight" Cody said angrily. "I don't care if you win or not, you've ruined All Elite Fighting's reputation"

"I don't care, I never wanted to be in your shitty gym anyway" Seth shrugged. "I'm going to get changed"

#shai writes #Shai Writes With Hela #Rollynch #Becky Lynch/Seth Rollins #seth rollins edit #seth rollins fanfic #seth rollins imagine #seth rollins smut #seth rollins #becky lynch #Finn Balor #finn balor imagine

[the-marx-brothers-will-live-on]

Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, musician, actor and film star. He was a member of the Marx Brothers (with Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx). His persona in the act was that of a charming, uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. On screen, Chico is often in alliance with Harpo, usually as partners in crime, and is also frequently seen trying to con or outfox Groucho. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood (first-born Manfred Marx had died in infancy). In addition to his work as a performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act in its early years.

Chico was born in Manhattan, New York City, on March 22, 1887. His parents were Sam Marx (called "Frenchie" throughout his life), and his wife, Minnie Schoenberg Marx. Minnie's brother was Al Shean. The Marx family was Franco-German Jewish. His father was a native of Alsace who worked as a tailor and his mother was from East Frisia in Germany.

Billing himself as Chico, he used an Italian persona for his onstage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. His non-Italian-ness was specifically referred to twice on film. In their second feature, Animal Crackers, he recognizes someone he knows to be a fish peddler impersonating a respected art collector:

Ravelli (Chico): "How is it you got to be Roscoe W. Chandler?"

Chandler: "Say, how did you get to be an Italian?"

Ravelli: "Never mind—whose confession is this?"

In A Night at the Opera, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho:

Driftwood (Groucho): "Well, things seem to be getting better around the country."

Fiorello (Chico): "I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself."

A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:

S. Quentin Quayle (Groucho): "Can you talk Indian?"

Joe Panello (Chico): "I was born in Indianapolis!"

There are moments, however, where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds "I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction!" Chico's character is often assumed to be dim-witted, as he frequently misunderstands words spoken by other characters (particularly Groucho). However, he often gets the better of the same characters by extorting money from them, either by con or blackmail; again, Groucho is his most frequent target.

Chico was a talented pianist. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually acquired a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he gained jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even worked playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike that they were often mistaken for each other.)

In the brothers' last film, Love Happy, Chico plays a piano and violin duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please don't-a play better than me!"

In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could play only two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers being fired.

Groucho Marx once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. Other examples of his keyboard flamboyance are found in A Night at the Opera (1935), where he plays the piano for a group of delighted children, and A Night in Casablanca (1946), where he performs a rendition of "The Beer Barrel Polka".

Chico became the unofficial manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie, died in 1929. As manager, he cut a deal to get the brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), the last of their films for Paramount.

For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra. Through the 1950s, Chico occasionally appeared on a variety of television anthology shows and some television commercials, most memorably with Harpo in "The Incredible Jewelry Robbery", a pantomime episode of General Electric Theater in 1959.

His nickname (acquired during a card game in Chicago in 1915) was originally spelled Chicko. It was changed to Chico but still pronounced "Chick-oh" although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it "Cheek-oh". Numerous radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them. As late as the 1950s, Groucho was happy to use the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life told the quizmaster she grew up around Chico (California) and Groucho responded, "I grew up around Chico myself. You aren't Gummo, are you?" Groucho is heard in videos pronouncing it "Chicko", as in a Dick Cavett episode with Groucho talking to Dan Rowan.

During Groucho's live performance at Carnegie Hall in 1972, he states that his brother got the name Chico because he was a "chicken-chaser" (early 20th century slang for womanizer).

As well as being a compulsive womanizer, Chico had a lifelong gambling habit. His favorite gambling pursuits were card games, horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said: "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Referring to Chico's love life, George Jessel quipped, "Chico didn't button his fly until he was seventy."

Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 1940s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years earlier. The Marx Brothers' penultimate film, A Night in Casablanca (1946), was made for Chico's benefit since he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. Because of his out-of-control gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death.

Chico had a reputation as a world-class pinochle player, a game he and Harpo learned from their father. Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting". Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on the television show Championship Bridge. He and his partner lost the game.

Chico was married twice. His first marriage was to Betty Karp in 1917. Their union produced one daughter named Maxine (1918–2009). His first marriage was plagued by his infidelity, ending in divorce in 1940; he was very close to his daughter Maxine and gave her acting lessons.

Chico's second marriage was to Mary De Vithas. They married in 1958, three years before his death.

In the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Jack Lemmon presented Groucho with an honorary Academy Award to a standing ovation. The award was also for Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo, whom Lemmon mentioned by name. It was one of Groucho's final major public appearances. "I wish that Harpo and Chico could be here to share with me this great honor," he said, naming the two deceased brothers (Zeppo was still alive at the time and in the audience). Groucho also praised the late Margaret Dumont as a great straight woman who never understood any of his jokes.

Chico died of arteriosclerosis at age 74 on October 11, 1961, at his Hollywood home. He was the eldest brother and the first to die.

Chico is entombed in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Chico's younger brother Gummo is in a crypt across the hall from him.

#marx brothers #chico marx #classic hollywood #comedians

[joecali01]

Sin City.

Sweet. Jesus.

Those are the two words that come to mind, when discussing the city out in the Nevada desert known as Las Vegas.

I loved the city so much I would use it as my user name on a lot of different things, most notably my (now defunct) Twitch career.

The queen herself: Snappy (my dog), middle name is legally "Vegas".

A city of infamy. The appeal from the outside looking in, is excitement. Somebody said it one time, and it is a true statement I've realized. That if you want to do ANYTHING on this planet, you can do it in Las Vegas. They will find it for you or make it happen if you have the money to spend.

However....

I am a story of Vegas' reality.

I partook in over 50 vacations to the city of Las Vegas. I lost track of the true number, but it was over 50. (I am 38 years old) . My first trip was April 2005 at the ripe old age of 21 years old.

At the time, I was a young kid, just recently ended a 2 year relationship with my first (and only) ever girlfriend. I was caught up on the poker craze at the time, which was provided in endless supply in Las Vegas. I also I knew I loved beautiful women, warm weather, and Pina Coladas. To me, the city was paradise.

Fast forward to what I can now tell you is the reality of that city. For people who do not have a strong will, the bright lights and temptation of everything that Vegas offers will bend you in ways you can not possibly imagine. Fortunately, I am still six feet above ground. It did not break me.

Full disclosure. This is not a winning blog. I sit here typing this story in the midst of financial ruin. It's not all Vegas related. But, when you spend almost all of your single life and free time looking forward to your next Vegas trip, that lifestyle does take a hold of you. I would forgo paying my bills for months to make sure I had money to go on my next trip. Not to mention finding ways to drain my entire retirement funds (ahead of time, at great penalty) in order to have money when my paychecks weren't enough to afford my next trip.

Out of the 50+ trips to Vegas, I had ONE winning trip. Quick math: 2% of my trips. 2%.

The scene that set the table-

One of my first trips to Vegas, I arrived at a place called the Spearmint Rhino gentleman's club. I had been to strip clubs in MA and Montreal. But here was 22 year old me, only had sex once in his life and here i am now with a veteran Vegas stripper sitting on his lap flirting with me.

"pull my hair" she said. So I.. uhh... Did. (Not super hard but just enough to give it a yank.) "No.... Harder". (At this point I remember not knowing what to think) so I pulled a little harder on it. "NO.... HARDER" she said pretty loud. So I gave her hair one hard yank. (Mind you, we are sitting in the public lounge of the strip club as we are doing this) she then looked at me and said "ahhh I love it. Look at my goosebumps!!" Sure enough, on her arm she had goosebumps with the hair on her arms standing straight up. She then got up and simply walked away to continue working the floor, selling $20 lap dances.

That was the very first time I said in my head. "Oh boy, this is wild"

There are stories I could give on each specific trip that I could give that would fill a Hollywood script. Each trip escalating budget wise. Some trips were better than others, but there was a recurring theme that was hard to escape:

The stakes just kept getting higher.

There was always this feeling to "one up" the last trip. At the very least, do do something fun and exciting each time out.

The truth is. I lost, alot. I spent, alot. I drank, alot. I chased women, alot.

7 months ago after a night drinking at Cromwell Las Vegas I lost $10,000 playing blackjack in 30 minutes.

Yeah.

That money I had withdrawn from my 401k was the entire budget for my trip.

I am 38 years old, about to be 39. I am in debt to different creditors to the tune of $50,000 or so dollars. I work full time, and recieve a weekly paycheck that is less than most people get working at McDonalds part time due to my automatic debt repayments.

I am single, overweight, and alone. I drove away most of my friends from a slow building depression which led to anger over various things that affected my relationships.

The new online friends that I met from twitch also were driven away from me because instead of repairing myself, I was a foolish, woman chasing, drunk.

I was and still am a man who set unrealistic high standards for myself. I always reached for the next rung on the ladder, before the ladder had even been assembled.

As sad as this all sounds, I don't say it so anyone feels bad for me. I dont want any sorrow. I made my bed and I will lay in it.

To type all of this out actually feels therapudic.

Posting a photo of myself, holding up a bottle in a Vegas nightclub looking like I was on top of the world, was a lie. I was buying that fantasy.

Once that plane lands back at Boston Logan International Airport. That fantasy ends.

The jig is finally up. I have burned every bridge I had. The only thing I can do now is slowly dig myself out.

I hope this blog alone, will stand as documentation of the way things turned out for me.

I need to hold myself accountable.

Looking ahead to the future. If anyone reads this, and you see myself and a significant other who loves me, posting a picture at a Las Vegas pool, holding up an iced cold frozen Pina Colada...

That will mean that I've finally learned the TRUE and RESPONSIBLE meaning of:

Viva, Las Vegas.

(This is an opinion piece)

- Joseph Caloggero.

[smolchildren-ily]

CAREFUL! VERY GRAPHIC AT TIMES!!!! Can be triggering for people who lost pets :(

Yesterday you crossed the rainbow bridge. Susi. A name I gave you just for fun. You, a random cat who kept stopping by and who ended up having her on basket on our terrace, sheltered from the wind underneath the table. You, who, without me knowing, grew really attached to my heart. I bought food for you passionately, I did, as weird as it may sound, I was eager to go shopping for you and I was so happy every time I could feed you because I saw how happy it made you. Unlike our two 'actual' cats who just ever complain, dont eat up or just straight up leave the food the way we put it in the bowl. I would be even happier when I could give you their leftovers because it meant you would have an extra full belly that day. I made sure to always provide you with dry food, too, always filled up the bowl when it was empty - which it was a lot, but a handful of other cats come by, too, I know. Also your brothers, or at least those who I call your brothers, because often times after I would have given you food you licked it a bit and then vanished just to return with Oliver and "Lackl" behind you. I felt like you always made sure they also got a full belly, even more than you yourself, actually, and that is the reason why you kept getting them. Now, with you gone, they have no more lead, and they will never know where you disappeared to or why their beloved sister left them. I feel so sorry for them, too. But they still stop by, just an hour ago both came here together. I will feed them in your stead. I will give them one pack extra, the pack that used to be for you. I loved you so much and I didnt even realize until I saw you motionless, like you were sleeping, in the absolute middle of the street in front of our house, but hidden behind big bushes so I couldn't see you. I couldn't help you. When the lady with the dog came and asked me who owns a fluffy, grey-black cat and that she would be out on the street, dead. You were already dead. Already dead. Blood poured from your mouth, and from your mouth only. A small puddle had formed under your head. Thick, cherry red blood. When I... When I picked up your body later that day, in the evening, to... to... to take you to the most heartbreaking, unholy and disgusting place, unworthy of any loved animal or animal at all, actually, because my mum didnt want you in her garden next to her beloved cat, I realized. I realized that you had only been dead for a maximum of 30 to 60 minutes. The 30 to 60 minutes I had just gotten up. I think it was late that I got up, either at 9.5 or 8.5 or maybe it was 8.14 after all. And because I felt it was so late, I was so surprised not to see you in front of the door already, like I saw you every day. Every day, for, I dont actually know how long. I dont know for how long I've known you. I dont think it was very long, but I dont remember. I just know that you were suddenly just t h e r e. Because, your brothers, they had actually visited us even before you started coming to our house. And then one day they brought you and you stayed.

You weren't there yesterday morning, and I didnt think about it much. It sometimes happened that you needed to catch on as to that I was awake - usually by my steps or latest when I opened the blinds of the kitchen window which faces the garden and the direction that we believe you stemmed from. So I went to open the blinds and sat bored beside my other cat and watched her eat, as I have to do because otherwise she wont eat often times. And I was looking forward to seeing your small, excited face behind the glass door, and to pet your soft fur. Then watch you eat away and walk into my way to beg for more. When my cat was done, I happily grabbed a pack, a different one from usual, because you had begun to not like the usual, so I wanted to give you a special treat. And I grabbed that pack and skipped to the door, opened it energetically and awaited your absolute immediate arrival and exploding joy over me and the food I was bringing you. You didnt come, which was weird. Somewhat weird, but it had been raining all week, and during rain you seemed to spend a lot of your time somewhere else. Maybe at the place that was originally your home? Your origin is still 50/50 a mystery. My mum says from the farmer where your brothers are from, but I'm not sure. But it must have been the case, because where else would you have come from? A bit run down, skinny. God, you looked so healthy just a couple of days me feeding you. So little days. I was proud you recovered so quickly, unlike your brothers, who seem to be doing very badly all the time. Such soft fur, so sleek.

And the blood was fresh and your limbs were still moving normally when I touched you. That is, later that day, that I realized: If I had gotten up earlier. If I hadn't been so lazy or tired or both. Just, maybe a couple of minutes? Maybe just 15 minutes? Who knows if you would have made it safely across the street to our house. Because you would have heard me open the blinds sooner. And you would have made your way to me sooner, and the car, the driver who was on his way to work, he wouldn't have hit your head, or any other part of you. I was just so happy that you weren't obviously hurt anywhere. Just this blood dripping from your mouth, forming a small puddle under your small, beloved head I loved to pet more than I had realized.

And I wonder, if I hadn't been so lazy or tired, if you would still be here today, and yesterday. Or if it already happened before I got up. While I was still... I wasnt sleeping, I was awake. As always, as usual. My cat always wakes me up in the middle of the night and or I just wake up at 5 or 6 or 7. Usually I stay in bed until 8, in any of those cases. But I stayed longer than 8 even, and if I had just gotten up. I wonder, could I have helped you? But I wouldt have seen you, hidden behind the big bushes, outside on the street.

The lady vet who was very busy but was one of the only ones who answered my call told me if a car hit her on the head she was probably immediately dead. Or wherever you were hit. I hope. I hope. I hope you were. Were... you know, immediately. Without pain. I wish that you died loving me and looking forward to seeing me again and to receive pets. And I will give them to you, and all the food and all the hugs you want, once we meet again. Because I hope we meet again, I dearly do, seldom have I hoped so intensely for heaven to exist. I realized that the older I get, the harder it becomes to say goodbye, to lose someone. Up until this day I believed it would become EASIER. Easier, because by an old age, you would have been through so much already. Lost so many people, so many cats. But I realize it's not and I dread the days I have to say goodbye to our other cats, to any cat, actually, to any animal. I will not be thinking about people at this time, because it is too soon. To soon, to soon, to soon. As it was too soon for you. I love you so much.

Given we have somewhat a neighbour hassle I put my mind to try to find a vet who would examine your body. To make sure you weren't poisoned, because I couldn't see any visible injuries on you. Just this little, thick puddle of cherry red blood underneath your mouth. So many vets only opened in the late afternoon, so many were on holiday, so many only opened again on Monday. But I found this lady vet, and whilst having a patient on the table she hurryliy told me that, if I found you in the middle of the road, it was most likely car. And you were probably dead. You know. What I hope you was. For your sake. And for my sake. I dont want to talk about it anymore. I love you.

After this lady vet, who said that she technically does examine bodies, but who seemed somewhat reluctant and like the result was clear anyway, I called who I was going to call in the first place: the animal clinic 40 minutes from us. I wasnt keen on being with... a body, because that is what you were at that point, a body. With a body in the car for 40 minutes, but I was gonna do it, just to know, just to make sure that t h i s o n e t i m e I would actually k n o w what happened to my cat. So I would know and not wonder for the rest of my life: What happened? What went wrong? Could I have done something? Do I need to guard our other cats? But I was going to do it.

The lady who picked up this time was very friendly. She caught on almost immediately that I'd just lost a cat, and after she called me back to tell me that poison leaves the body too quickly to get usable results and that it would be a few hundred euro to have this analysis done, told me she wished me all the best and if I have any questions I should call. She was the first person that day - yesterday, it was just yesterday. But it felt like a nightmare, and it feels long ago already. A nightmare I want to forget, but I dont want to forget you. Susi.

She acknowledge my pain and your death and she consoled me when I had noone else who would do that for me. My parents are on holiday until tomorrow, the one friend who I told about your death literally just replied "I'm so sorry, that's so terrible, crying faces". But I needed more than that. I didnt get it until today when I woke up just as devastated as I was yesterday and went to have lunch with my grandmother, who also knew you. And who liked you, too.

"The green-eyed one" is what she called you. The green-eyed one, because green eyes you had. So beautiful, so big. In German, we like to say "Telleraugen". Eyes as big as plates. She was also visibly devastated. It is always said to tell your old grandmother that another beloved person or animal died. So much pain they have gone through already, and it just keeps getting worse.

But we talked a lot and long about you. And how it happened. Probably happened. And who I suspect to be the murderer. Our immediate neighbours, one of them at least. When I opened the door, shortly after, I heard them leave. The woman left in her white car. But I was just glad she left, I didnt care what direction she drove off to, so I didnt see where she went. I wish I had. And usually she drives into the direction where I found you on the street. May God punish her for her sins, and do so gruelly and painfully. If it was her. Maybe it was him, because later he returned in his old, small motorcycle thing. Maybe it was him. He shall be punished just as hard and gruelly as his girlfriend if it was either of them. And if it wasnt, I wish your murderer the plague and death and a hell of a lot of gruesome pain for the rest of their pitiful life. My first suspicions had been the neighbours who had newly moved here the last couple of years. Some younger people and old people who dont care at all that we have limit here in our village of 30 kmh. Who just never care and race down the hill like they own the place. And then hit a cat that just casually wanted to get her breakfast from a human who loves her very much. I hate all of you spenders, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, and I hate this neighbourhood and I hope everyone here dies a cruel death. Bit most of all, I hope your murderer and all other spenders who put the lives of loved ones at risk, die gruesome and cruel deaths. Just like you had to. I still love you.

Time is progressing, my battery decreasing and it is getting colder. I've written so much by now, but I have so, so much more to talk about. Tomorrow, my arms and fingers will hurt because I typed all of this on my phone. But at least I still have a body and feelings that can hurt me. Unlike you, who is not here anymore.

That day yesterday was so cruelly terrible. Oh my god.

I was so restless the whole day because I didnt know what to do with your body. I put it in the semi-shed/semi-room at the back of our house, where the small greenhouse and the grave of my mother's beloved cat, who was also hit by a car, but out of nowhere after a whopping 7 years of life. The grave which is also there. I had put you in a wooden basket somewhat, onto kitchen roll. For the blood to drip onto. And to make it more comfortable in your death, even though it probably wouldn't have made a big difference, even if you could have, or would have, still felt it. It was a bit too small for you and when I picked you up, you were so heavy, and so motionless, like, and I hate to draw this comparison, but like a sack of potatoes. Heavy and motionless and it was so weird to lift you up without you moving and squirming and trying to get away from me. It was so strange, alien strange, horribly strange. I saw the puddle out of the corner of my eyes but I didnt really see anything and I didnt want to see anything, the lady with the dog just wanted you off the street and that's what I did. I was blind with tears and when I put that wooden basket thing down I saw I hadn't put your head in a too comfortable position so I... I moved you a bit so that your head wouldn't be down at your chest, and your legs moved instead a bit over the rim. Then I squatted there, looking at you. As I do a lot with my other cat. To make sure you really weren't breathing anymore. To discover that you would still be breathing and I could still take you to the vet after all and I would still be able to feed you and pet you, and all would be good. But after staring at you intensely for 2 minutes or so. Blood still dripping a tiny bit out of your mouth, just luckily I didnt have to see that, your head was still moved so that I couldn't really see your face, just mostly your body. But I saw the blood on the kitchen roll expanding. It was seemingly clear that you were. The four letters.

But I didnt really believe it. Not really. Not really so. I went back upstairs to cry, and to do something about my sadness. To call the vets, have you examined, get clearance. To put my sadness to work. And as I sat there at the kitchen table with the phones I still expected you to come running up the stairs, staring into the room and scratching the glass door to have your food. That you just passed out for an hour or two or so and would come back. I really did!

And every shadow I saw out of the corner of my eyes, I thought they were all you, returning from the backside of the houses happily and healthy and excited and quirky as ever. Just your usual self, you know.

But you didnt come, and I was restless. After I had talked to the first lady vet I realized, I decided it was most likely a car that hit you. So at least I knew how it most probably happened. But what do to with your body? And I didnt want to bring you away just yet. Because it was clear to me that I would have to bring her to the most horrible, ungrateful and unworthy of any beloved pet or animal place on earth. Because you weren't my mums favourite, and she wouldn't want you in her garden. But at lunch I asked her anyway. I texted her about that I found you dead in street in the morning, and if I could bury you next to Leeloo to give you the forever home you probably always wanted. Just a little too late.

But my mother said no. Well, not explicitly. But she suggested I take you there, and after I said I didnt want to but it is her garden and her decision. I had to wait another couple of hours, until 6 o'clock in the evening, one of which I spent half asleep in bed with our second cat, because the living still demanded my attention, oblivious of the fact that one of them had just reached the end of their road. Until 6 clock in the evening when she finally replied to take you there.

Up until that point, I had gone back a couple of times to check on you. I sat at the kitchen table knowing flies would be all over your body at some point, because this is not the first time I had to witness the dead body of one of our cats. And I didnt want the flies there so I covered you up with newspapers. Another time I came to you with scissors and an empty box that had stored Qtips, because I wanted something od you to remain with me for the rest of my life. And your fur look so inviting, not flat on your skin but a bit more wildly into the air. So I carefully cut a few tips of your fluffy silkness. The box is sitting in front of me in the book shelf, originally I wanted to bury at least this bit of you in the garden next to the beloved cat. I wanted at least some part of you to have a furever home. And I still do. But I cant do it just yet. It could be that I will just keep it here. But I will definitely put up a stone with writing on it, saying "In love and remembrance of Susi".

Another time, before that, I think, I spent a long while sitting on the tiny stone rim in front of Leeloos grave, because I was pondering if I shouldn't just bury you anyway, despite what my mother says about you. But it was her garden, so I didnt. Just this one time, I wish I had not done as I was told. I wish I hadn't even asked.

But there, in the middle of the path to the grave, there were a bunch of unusally long daisies growing l, and I had the strong desire to put up flowers for Susi. For you. So I picked them and laid them down next to your body.

I think I went down another time, always in "full gear", with heavy boots on because the grass at the backside is usually wet and gross. But you laid on concrete in the semi-room, so no worries. So I went down there just to be with you. Because I still didnt want to believe it. I couldn't believe it. I refused to. I thought if I just spent some more time with you, you would wake back up. I had one of the masks on and one time gloves when I touched you. Which I didnt for the most part.

When I had Google about the poison, many people describe situations like your death. No, sorry, I googled what the blood meant, and that is where I found it could be poison, or even a heart attack, or inner injuries. But these people also described their cats having their eyes open, so I went to check your eyes cause I hadn't seen them. And they were open. Though I only saw one. One side of your face. If your cute, beautiful face. And I tried to close them, it, but almost immediately realized it didnt work, so I gave up. But I wish I could have done at least that for you.

[stories-and-sails]

Marmageddon: The Paranormal Romance No One Wanted (An Excerpt)

“I've tried to tell this story a thousand ways. When you get to my age…” “You're twenty-four.” “Ahem. When you get to my age, you realize that stories aren't as simple and straightforward as they seem.” “You're not my grandpa. Cut to the chase.”

It started when that marmot bit me. I mean, obviously that's how it started. He was underneath my truck when I—well, that part isn't important. It started when that marmot bit me, and the first full moon after that, I transformed into a marmot. I'll spare you the denial and disbelief. I mean, would you believe it if you woke up in the body of a rodent, lying in the middle of your front lawn in a pool of decapitated grasses, hands and face smeared with mud? I had become a monster. I had become the thing I feared most.

“You’re being extreme,” “You can't understand. You're not were.” “And you're not a were-wolf. You didn't bite anyone or maul any innocent villagers.” “Still. The shock. The horror. Like I said, I'll spare you the details about coming to terms with who I had become. It wasn't pretty. In time, I’ve come to accept myself. That I have appetites for things that normal men don't.” “Oh my gosh, Hunter. People eat vegetables all the time.” “Rabbit food. It's not natural.” “Are you going to tell the story, or are you going to keep being ridiculous?”

You have to understand that when you first become a were-marmot, the changes aren't voluntary. You can be in the middle of driving your truck, and hear a strange noise, and BAM, you've got your little marmot paws clinging onto the steering wheel and no way to reach the brakes. Or you'll be in the middle of scurrying into the burrow when suddenly you get this funny feeling in your gut and WHAM, you're raising the roof. Literally. That's a problem for people like us, of course. Lot of the new guys don't ever make it through the first few months.

It wasn't like I could just call into work for four months straight. And who was I supposed to tell? “Hey can you come check in on me at the house? Might turn into a marmot and not be able to reach the door handles.” No. This was the kind of thing I had to handle on my own. 

So there I was at work, standing out by the shed with the guys and waiting to see if the rain was going to let up or get worse, but then I saw this marmot running through the field. Every now and then he'd stand back on his haunches and wave his little paws in the air like he was trying to get our attention. Shoot. I knew right away it was Swiftpaw. They would have sent him to warn me, but only if there was a real problem. The guys were starting to notice that something weird was going on, and worse, Emma had decided he looked tasty. 

“Emma,” I said, leaning down next to her ears. “Calm down, girl. That's a friend, not a food.” But her eyes were fixed on him, and she was getting that crazy predator glint in them. Maybe I could have gotten her to calm down, only at that moment, I felt a weird twinge in my gut. Not a “shouldn't have eaten those pickled eggs” twinge. A transformation twinge. 

“Uh,” I grunted. “I gotta..” I started running for the corner of the building, hoping I'd get there before I shrunk enough to notice, especially since all the guys had turned around to watch me run, laughing and calling encouragement. For all they knew, I’d been making an awful lot of sprints to the bathroom lately. You're wondering about my clothes, right? When I told you that I kept transforming in the middle of daily activities, you wondered what happened to my clothes every time. This is what: I ran right out of my shoes first, and then collapsed, writhing as fur sprouted from every inch of my body and my teeth and snout elongated. When it was over, I was surrounded on all sides by denim. I've chewed my way out of more pairs of pants than most folks have. 

I managed to wiggle out of this pair without chewing and dragged them to a corner where I hoped they’d go unnoticed by the guys. I didn't want to answer the questions if they found every article of clothing I wore that day dropped on the floor of the shop. Again. 

After wrestling around with my clothes like that, I'd lost some time, so I scooted on out to see if Swiftpaw was still in the field.

I stood up on my hind legs and sniffed the air, sensing the many details that human noses just don't get. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there are a lot of different poop scents around a farm. A whole mosaic of them, really. But I didn't have long to stop and smell the, uh, roses. Emma had chased Swiftpaw to the top of a fencepost and was leaping around, barking her head off. Most of the guys were just standing there laughing. At least Hinkley was trying to call Emma off whenever he managed to catch his breath. 

This was going to call for a decoy run. 

Letting out a chittering whoop, I scurried down the hill. 

You notice how fast marmots are when you hunt them. I've noticed it before. They’re fast. They boogie. But you don't realize until you've been one of them how fast it feels to go flying over the ground, the long grass whipping against your cheek pouches, paws barely skimming the earth.

“Okay, you're not a thoroughbred racehorse, either.” “Well. No. But it feels really fast, okay?” “Sure. So you were sprinting majestically across the field.”

To rescue my friend from Man's Best Friend. Right.

Luckily, Emma seemed to think that a sprinting target was even more fun than a fixed one, and she ran after me, which gave Swiftpaw enough time to get down from the fencepost and make for the burrow. 

Unfortunately, Emma seemed to think the sprinting target was more fun than the fixed one, and within seconds she was hot on my heels. 

“No!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Emma! Bad dog. No chase. Go home.” I swear I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes, even though I didn't speak with my human voice. It was almost like she knew who I was. Which would have been impressive if she hadn't watched me transform in front of her own eyes about fourteen times since I'd been infected.

“Emma!” I shouted. “It's me! I buy you dog food and let you sleep in my bed. Do not kill me.”

Her momentary confusion bought me enough time to scoot my butt into the burrow, and she couldn't follow. She sniffed and scratched around the entrance for a few moments, and several of the marmots in the little burrow turned to give me irritated looks.

“Sorry,” I offered. “She followed me home.”

Loosetooth's head popped into the room. “Hunter. You're here. We sent Swiftpaw to warn you of the danger.”

I grimaced. “Yeah. Maybe next time he should—you know, kind of sneak around the back instead of running up doing semaphore signals.”

She waved away my suggestion. “There's no time for subtlety now. Rumor has it the Marmoth has been spotted to the east.”

I chill ran through my fur, even though I didn't know what she was talking about. “The what?”

“The Marmoth” she repeated solemnly. I saw several of the nearby marmots pause to look at her, their eyes seeking confirmation. 

“It cannot be,” one of them said in a hushed whisper.

“We believe that it is true. That the Marmoth has returned,” she turned back to me, and I could see that her fur was standing on end and her eyes were huge in fear. “The Marmoth is like you and I. He once was human and now is marmot. But he is—really, really large.”

“Okay…”

“He never settled between human and marmot. Instead, he is caught between. A marmot the size of a man.”

“Okay…” I repeated. I was waiting for, something scary. Like, he was really big and could shoot snakes out his nose. Or, he was really big and had an army of snakes. Or, he was really big and—

“Well. Don't you see?”

I squinted. “Uh, no? You're saying he's the size of a human. But so am I, most of the time.”

She dismissed this too. “I should have known one of the new pups would not understand the danger we face from the Marmoth. But rest assured, those of us who remember know the danger. He destroyed more than one den when last he passed through.”

Murmurs of agreement spread around the group, and several of them were looking at me with expressions of disgust. 

“Okay, okay!” I held my paws up in front of my chest. “He's a big deal. We need to chase him off. Is that right?”

I'd made the mistake one time of saying that I could shoot something while I was in my human form, and the entire marmot community had shunned me for a week. It left me feeling strangely bereft. I'd put my gun in the back of the closet and replaced “shoot” in my vocabulary with “chase off.” Where it was appropriate, I mean. I wasn't about to go ask the guys if they wanted to chase off some pool. There was a lot of context involved with switching between forms like I did all the time. 

Anyway, the marmots looked at me like this was a really shocking suggestion. “You wouldn't say that if you'd met him. If you'd seen what he could do. What he has done.”

How scary could some oversized rodent be? I wasn't trying to downplay their fear, but I was pretty sure my colony could “chase him off” if need be. “You speak of what you do not know,” she intoned. “Go home. You will see the devastation there.”

That was enough to make me want to human back up, but I couldn't just flip the switch. Besides, I was still stuck in the middle of the burrow, and I needed to scoot on out of there before turning back into a human. 

“Great,” I said. “I'll see you there.”

I'll be honest. When I first turned, I didn't think I was going to get too involved in the inner workings of the marmot people. I mean, they were animals, and I was a human, so what could we possibly have in common? But it's a lonely thing, being a were-marmot. Even your own dog will turn against  you, and eventually you start turning to the company of those like you. Or like you in some way. Within the marmot colonies, there were a lot of folks that were pure marmot, never human. There were a number of were who, once they could actually control the shifting, chose to stay marmot most of the time. There were those of us who'd been made through an infected bite, and were-marmots that had been born because their parents were were. We didn't all have the same view on everything, but they understood better what I was dealing with than any of the full-time humans I knew. None of them had even heard of were-marmots. So even if my colony was a little extreme sometimes, and even if they did like to eat unspeakable things, I liked them. If this Marmoth was a danger to them, I couldn’t take it lightly.

“Were they right? When you got home, I mean, was it as devastating as they said it would be?” ... “Hunter? Hunter, are you okay? You're kind of spacing out.” “Oh. Oh, right. I was just remembering.”

#Shortstories #marmots #writblr #i finally finished it

[raedas]

Theme music plays.

Carmen sneaks through the museum.

Chase: Freeze! Right there!

The video pauses, revealing that we have been watching a recording.

Chase: Now rewind. Stop. Zoom in on her face. That is not Carmen Sandiego.

The culprit has a similar silhouette, but wears an eye patch and has straight white hair.

Chief: She calls herself the Duchess. A.C.M.E. had no record of her existence... until late last night when she sashayed out of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum packing a painting valued at over 30 million euro.

Chase: 30 million euro for that?

Julia: "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" is one of Johannes Vermeer's most important earlier works. SEe the hallmark of his style? The way he paints natural light makes his subject look so realistic.

Chase: Ms. Argent, need I remind you that you're the only one who cares about such dull facts?

Chief: Excellent eye, Agent Argent. Attention to detail is the very cornerstone of A.C.M.E. surveillance.

Chase: Uh, um, precisely why we should further analyze the particulars of this, uh, uh... hmm.

Julia: Swipe here.

Chief: I highly suggest acquainting yourself with our CrimeNet technology, Agent Devineaux. You're not with Interpol anymore. Your first mission as agents of A.C.M.E. will be to recover that painting and ascertain whether or not this Duchess is working for V.I.LE.

Chase: Or, whether she is an accomplice to Carmen Sandiego.

Carmen: Blue isn't really my color, but I have to admit... I've never stolen anything so luminous.

She's looking at the painting stolen by "the Duchess."

Player: Enjoy it while you can, Red. You have a whole hour before you need to get back in character.

Carmen: Right. Let's get the crew up to speed. Zack, Ivy!

Zack, wearing the eye patch: Avast, me mateys! Arr!

Ivy, wearing the white-haired wig: Is this a good look for me?

Carmen: Those aren't toys, people. They're my disguise. Now pay attention. Here's what we know: Player's decryption of the V.I.L.E. hard drive revealed details of an intricate ongoing operation. V.I.L.E. operatives have been quietly stealing paintings by the artist Vermeer from museums all over the world and replacing the originals with amazingly accurate forgeries.

Ivy: What? Why would they bother leaving fakes behind?

Carmen: To ensure museum security would never realize the originals had been stolen to begin with, which would allow the entirety of Vermeer's collected works to slowly and steadily be amassed by V.I.L.E. mastermind Countess Cleo.

Zack: What's the big whoop about these paintings anyway? No cars, no clowns, no dogs playing poker?

Ivy: Yeah, and she's reading. Snore.

Player: You aren't the only ones who thought that. But after some research, I began to see things in a different light. The Netherlands isn't only known for its tulips, windmills, and wooden shoes. It's famous for its painters from the Dutch Golden Age of the 1600's, Vermeer among them.

Carmen: But the ordinary people of his portraits weren't the stars of the show. That would be the mind-boggling way Vermeer captured natural light with his paintbrush. Only 34 confirmed paintings by the maestro exist. Not a whole lot for a major artist. That makes each one an extremely rare and valuable treasure.

Player: Which is why we freaked when we learned there was only one last Vermeer left for Cleo to steal, from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Carmen: So I had to act fast and got to it first and made my escape through one of Amsterdam's 165 canals, masquerading as the Duchess. "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" is our only shot at stealing back the other 33. We need Cleo to take the bait so we can push for a direct face-to-face, in the hopes of figuring out where she's keeping the rest.

Player: And if she had any suspicion that she were dealing with the master super thief Carmen Sandiego, she'd never let you anywhere near her stolen prizes.

Carmen: That's why, when Cleo's courier arrives to authenticate the painting, it'll be the Duchess who meets him at the door.

There's a knock at the door.

Player: Whoa, that can't be him. He's an hour early.

Zack: Yowza! Room service is wicked fast here.

Carmen: Wait! Don't open that doo--

Zack does. Carmen and Ivy hide. Player disconnects the video call.

Dash: Oh, still running on Moscow time. Hmm. Um... you're not a duchess.

Zack: You're not my sandwich.

Dash: Ahaha, I must have the wrong room. I...

He spots the painting.

Dash: Oh... there she is. "The Woman in Blah"... I was to meet a duchess. You would be her...?

Zack: Duke. Ah, yes. Ahem. I'm the Duke... ahah, of, uh, uh, uh... Vermeer! Vermeer. Yes. Haha.

Dash: That's a pace?

Zack: Um, yeah. I-In Boston. B-Boston. And you would be, mate?

Dash: Dash Haber. Executive courier to Countess Cleo.

He uses an electronic monocle to check that the painting is authentic, then starts to walk off with it.

Dash: I'll wire the funds immediately and take her off your hands.

Carmen motions for Zack to stop him by motioning her finger across her neck. Zack runs to Dash and repeats the gesture.

Zack: Does, uh, this mean anything to you?

Dash: Heh. I'll inform the Countess.

Cleo: Mr. Haber, report.

Dash: The painting checks out. But I think the Duke would prefer to deal directly with you?

Cleo: Duke? I promised a complete collection. If I don't have number 34 in my hands tomorrow night, I'll be laughingstock of the criminal underworld.

Dash: The Countess wishes to invite you to a dinner party and auction.

Zack: Great! Yeah, text me the address.

Dash: Good. A car will pick you up tomorrow, 5pm sharp. And no plus-ones, just the painting.

As soon as he closes the door, Ivy throws the wig at his head.

Ivy: Is your brain made of Swiss cheese? Yes, the kind with the holes.

Player: Why would Cleo auction the Vermeers after going through so much trouble to complete the set?

Carmen: The thrill of the hunt doesn't last long for her. And the combined value of the art could easily surpass one billion dollars.

Ivy: [whistles] Hello, V.I.L.E. slush fund.

Carmen: We'll only have a brief window to steal back all 34 while they're under one roof before they scatter to the winds. The good news is, we're invited to a party.

Player: And... the not so good?

Carmen: We only have 24 hours to transform Zack into a convincing duke.

Zack is standing in front of a mirror.

Carmen: Cleo will expect a duke to speak in proper diction. Repeat after me: "Park the car in Aardvark Yard."

Zack, with a Boston accent: Park the car in Aardvark Yard.

Carmen, moving his mouth up and down: Park the car in Aardvark Yard.

Zack: Park the car in-- hold on, hold on. I'm gonna get it.

Carmen: Cleo will expect a gentleman to wear appropriate wardrobe.

Zack: Aw no, not a monkey suit.

Ivy: It suits you. You're way more monkey than man.

Carmen: Salad fork.

Zack: Okay.

Carmen: Table fork.

Zack: Got it.

Carmen: Dessert fork.

Zack: Yum, dessert!

Carmen: Fish fork.

Zack: Yuck! F-F-Fish? Oh, come on! You never said I'd have to eat fish.

Carmen: If they serve it, just keep telling yourself it tastes like chicken. You need to learn enough talking points about art history to fit in.

Zack: Oh come on. Why?

Carmen: Because if Cleo thinks for even one moment you are not who you say you are, she'll feed you to her dogs.

Zack: Just don't let her feed me any fish. Okay, okay, okay. Small fork, salad, dessert fork, cake. Small fork... Park the car in Aadvark Yard. Park the car in Aardvark... Park the fork in Salad Yard. Park the fork in my mouth.

Carmen: Zack, you ready?

Zack: Ready to park the car in Aardvark Yard.

Ivy: Dude, that's weird, right?

Carmen: It's showtime.

Zack goes to the limo. Carmen and Ivy watch from the car.

Cleaner: Arms?

He extends his arms. They use a wand to check him for contraband.

Ivy: No tracker?

Carmen: First thing they check for.

Cleaner: Clean.

Cleaner: We go.

He puts a bag over Zack's head. When they drive off, Carmen and Ivy follow.

Carmen: You're doing great, Ivy. Just keep a safe distance. ...We have a tail.

Ivy: Would you look at that. A tail tailing a tail.

Chase: This A.C.M.E. technology is more my speed.

Julia, on a screen: Agent Devineaux, the hotel guests registered under a fake name, but I was able to connect the payment source to the van rental. You may very well be following the Duchess.

Chase: Or, Carmen Sandiego.

Julia: I suppose that is possible.

Chase: Ohoho! Delighted to hear that you agree for once.

Julia: But depriving the world of historic works of art does not seem to be Ms. Sandiego's M.O.

Chase: Bah! Just see what you can learn in the hotel suite. I am driving.

Julia: But Agent Devin--

Carmen: Hmm, an old admirer... in a new set of wheels. Player, there's a bridge half a klick southeast of us. Can you hack into it?

Player: I'm on it.

Carmen: Take this turn.

She does. Chase follows.

Player: Ah, a drawbridge. Coming right up.

He starts to raise each side of the drawbridge from the middle.

Carmen: Straight ahead. Step on it.

Ivy: Really?

Carmen: Make the jump, Ivy. We can't let our tail blow Zack's cover.

Chase: You jump, I jump.

Ivy: Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! I can't!

She slams on the brakes. Chase sails ahead.

Chase: Nooooo!

The car half makes the jump. Then he sees Carmen in his rear-view mirror.

Chase: You! Haha, I knew you were behind...

His movements cause the car to start falling backward.

Chase: No, no, no, no, no... noooooo!

The car plummets into the water.

anon did you. did you type this all out yourself because i would like to shake your hand

#THE WAY I LITERALLY RAN OUT OF TEXT BOOKS #I CANNOT MAKE ANOTHER PARAGRAPHSJEHEKRGKEEHKWEBDND #no but seriously. props this ask was so serotonin but ALSO so out of the blue ??? #the duchess episode my beloved.... #asks #anon #cs #long post

[ecotone99]

[SF] God Among Men

So, I recently watched the latest season of Black Mirror titled 'Smithereens' and really enjoyed the build up of the tension towards the CEO. Although I liked how the story turned out, I had a different expectation of how the ending would turn out. This is how I thought Charlie Brooker was going to end the story. The story jumps in at the moment Billy Bauer, the CEO of Smithereen, hangs up the phone with the members of the board. I would appreciate any feedback and advice as I am just starting to write short stories as a passion.

Based on an episode of Black Mirror Season 5 Episode 2: Smithereens. Imagine the episode playing out the same until we reach the point Billy Bauer hangs up on his staff to try and negotiate with Chris Gillhaney himself.

*Scene begins at the 10-day silent retreat right after Billy Bauer hangs up the phone with his board members, determined to reach out to Chris Gillhaney himself* Tipi pulls out a giant suitcase from the car and walks over to hand it to Billy. Billy, eager to get started, meets her halfway and grabs the case and walks back to his humble abode used to sequester himself from technology. He sits near the edge and unlocks the case to find his laptop ready for use. As he pulls it out and opens it up, he takes a moment to remember something while on call with the other board members. “Uh, what did Penelope say? Can you make a note for me? Christopher Michael Gillhaney.” Tipi pulls out her smartphone and begins taking notes per Billy’s request. “UK, user since '08, didn't log on for 18 months.” Tipi affirms her dictation while Billy is furiously typing on laptop. Then a moment occurs to Billy and he pauses to look up at Tipi. “Sorry, what's your name?” Surprised, Tipi replies with her name as Billy extends his hand with a cordial smile. “Hi, I'm Billy.” Tipi shakes his hand and feels special in this brief introduction. Despite all that is occurring, with two mens lives hanging in the balance, Billy still finds an opportunity to treat Tipi with respect and sincerity. This makes her question why so many of her friends and coworkers were frightened for her when she mentioned she was promoted to be Billy Bauer’s new assistant. Perhaps some of the rumors about him were not as true as she heard about through the office. She was excited, yet nervous, to start this new chapter in her life assisting the CEO of Smithereen. “Tipi, really the only good thing about my position is every once in a while I get to invoke God-mode.”, as Billy finishes this sentence, he presses enter on his keyboard starting a chain of very complex scripts that seem to connect through various satellites. *Scene switches to the car Chris Gillhaney is sitting in with Jaden, the Smithereen intern, sitting in the back, hands still tied* Chris Gillhaney’s phone rings, he stares at the number unable to recognize the caller. As exhausted as he feels, the realization that the moment he has been waiting finally arriving gives him a quick adrenaline rush and helps fight back the impending dread sitting at the bottom of his heart. Chris carefully presses ‘ACCEPT’ on his cell phone as he nervously puts it up to his ear. “Christopher? Is that Christopher? Hello?” Chris sheepishly replies, “Yea, I’m here.” Jaden in the back seat leans over a bit to get a better look at Chris, to somehow get an idea on the conversation he may be having with the founder of the most popular social media site in the world. “It’s me”, Chris softly speaks back into the phone, still unsure whether to believe who may be on the other line. “Hi. I'm Billy Bauer. You wanted to talk to me?” “I did. I did, yeah. I do.”, as Chris’ heart rate increases, he finds himself rushing in response, still in disbelief that he finally reached the reclusive man himself. “Okay, well, uh you got me on the line. Tell you what, why don't you let our guy Jaden there go and, uh you and I can just, you know, chat? We can talk about whatever it is you want.” “If I let him go, you'll hang up.” Chris retorted, refusing to fall for such a simple ploy. “I'm not gonna hang up, Christopher.” “I want you to listen to me!” “I’m listening. Let's just not blow up, okay? Let's just, you know, be calm and you'll just kind of tell me what it is that you want.” “I just told you. I want you to listen to me. Just fucking listen to me!” despite Billy’s words to ‘be calm’, this was definitely not the time to ‘be calm’. Not after all he has been through for the past year and a half. Now he was going to hear him out, fully, with all that he has to say. “I'm listening. There's no one else here. Okay, Chris? It's just it's you and me. You have my attention...Chris?” “Yeah, I'm just I'm just it's hard to get my thoughts in order. I've rehearsed this though, and I just..” the fatigue and stress of the day was starting to catch up with Chris and he was having a hard time staying focused. “Take your time, man. Just take your time.” “You run Smithereen.” Chris demanded, starting to feel the words he scripted coming back into his mind. “Uh-huh. Since 2008.” “I used to use Smithereen all the time” Now Chris was determined to state his message, the message that caused so much time, money, resources, and pain for numerous people involved on this day. On his last day. “Okay” “I mean, constantly. Like, my phone was glued to my hand. I was the whole cliche, you know, first thing I saw in the morning, last thing I saw at night. Tamsin was…” Chris broke off, filled with an intense pain that surged through his heart as he tried desperately to fight back the tears. The tears that still refused to stop after all this time. Jaden looks up to see a man continuing to deal with his own personal hell. He looks on and wonders how deep this pain goes. “Chris? I’m here” “Tasmin was the same,” fighting through the agony, Chris continued on, as he had to at this point. “She was my fiance. Three years ago I was driving home with her. We'd been visiting my mum. My mum was sick and we'd been visiting my mum and I was driving Tamsin back to our flat. She was asleep. She was tired and I'm just driving her home. And it was boring. I got bored. I got bored every ten seconds back then, I think, and I'm on this road. It was very quiet, straight...and my phone lights up and I check it. I just glanced at it, you know. There's this little notification thing saying someone liked a comment that I made about some photo of theirs. I just glanced at it, you know. That's all the time it took...” Chris pauses briefly, the damage still too real to him. “It took her two months to die. I was at her bedside. It was no use. The man in the other car died, too. He was drunk. He got the blame. They said it was him. Everyone felt sorry for me. Mr. Tragic.” *Scene switches back to Billy Bauer’s retreat destination* Tipi is still standing by Billy waiting for anything he may need, but her face looks like a combination of confusion, worry, and complete shock. As she looks on towards Billy, she notices him still frantically typing at his keyboard. At a slight angle, she can view his laptop screen. She notices a small window in the upper corner parsing Chris Gillhaney’s words into text and seemingly running various calculations underneath it in a massive tree like structure. The visualization is confusing to figure out, but from what she could tell, it seemed as if the program was figuring out the right responses and phrases to say back to Chris on the other line. What also amazes Tipi is that the program is replicating Billy Bauer’s voice and having direct communication with Chris without his knowledge. This was one of the many secret weapons at Billy Bauer’s disposale. For over a decade, he pooled company resources to research how to leverage machine language to not only mimic any person on earth, but to also have fluent conversations with others without their knowledge. This program passed any Turing test known to man. It even helped boost his popularity around the world as once this technology was advanced enough, Billy mostly held public interviews and meetings through phone calls. This allowed him to spend more time on more interesting endeavors rather than putting on 'public performances to the media', as he would put it. Although, those who work closely with him believe this caused him to become more detached from society. “My god, this man’s taste in music is just….ooff”, Billy spoke to no one in particular. He was sifting through, dissecting, investigating this shattered hostage taker’s Smithereen profile. He was trying to understand Chris’ mind, thought patterns, characteristics, anything he could use to end this situation, anything to help exploit him. “Mmm, no siblings, mother deceased, father still lives close by. Quite a recluse now I see. Hrmm, maybe we could…”, as Billy trailed off he started opening up a new window on his laptop and typing furiously what looks like code for a script that Tipi could not fathom to understand. Likely, most other programmers could not either. Tipi receives a phone call and leans over to Billy in a whisper, “It’s Pen.” Billy waves her off as he continues typing, in deep concentration. “She is insisting not to do this ag…”, before Tipi could finish her sentence, Billy gives a look to Tipi that stops her mid sentence. She could not quite put it into words, but the intense, brooding glare he gives up at her says something more, something worse if she disobeyed. “I am sorry, but Mr Bauer is currently indisposed at the moment. I will let him know you called the moment he has a chance.” As Tipi hung up the phone, Billy slightly nods and continues to feverishly write out what now looks like a number of scripts waiting for execution. “I killed her over a fucking dog photo!”, Chris sobs into the phone as he finally pours the deepest darkest secret of his heart out to the CEO, or so he thinks. “I killed her over that.”, as Chris finishes his story, silence takes over the phone call. As he wipes tears from his eyes, he beckons “are...are you still there? Did my fuckin sob story put you to sleep?” “I am still here, Chris,'' replies the machine language program. “I never left, I’m just listening to you, that's all. You must be dealing with so much guilt and shame from all of this. Like, you’re all alone with this burden and can’t tell anyone with what you’re going through for fear they will judge you. That they will not understand you. Judge you, like the terrible person you believe you are. Am I right in thinking this?” Chris is in shock to hear all his emotions and pain get reflected back to him so clearly and concisely, he nervously replies “y-y-yeah! It’s been just so fuckin hard, you know!?” The program picks up the subtle inflection change in Chris’ voice to realize its reaching out to him and pushes forward with its message. “And not to mention the amount of grief you must feel for the lost of your one true love.” In the background, sobbing is heard through the receiver. “That sounds so heartbreaking. You have endured so much through the fault of this app, and for that, I am truly, truly sorry for your loss. But you are not alone, Chris” “Yes, I am! I did this! It was my fault!” “You are not. I have lost someone deeply as well. Someone very close to me” *Scene switches back to the car with Chris sitting inside listening very intently* Jaden perks up upon hearing this new information from a man who very much values his privacy. Chris, taken aback, questions him, “what? What do you mean?” “I have also lost someone, Chris” “Don’t fuck with me, Billy! I won’t hesitate! I’ll shoot this fuckin’ intern right between the eyes, I swear to god! I swear if you’re lying to me!”, Chris, emotionally drained, cannot stand anymore disappointments at this point. Calmly, the program replies, “I am not, Chris. I would not lie to you. Her name was Abby. We were in love. This was before Smithereen, back when I was a freshman in college. I was deeply in love with her.” After a small pause, Chris started to become curious, “how…” “How can you know I am not lying? Go ahead, look her up”. As the program was speaking these lines to Chris, a plethora of other scripts, outside of Billy’s work, started executing. “Her name was Abby Leauril, that is spelled L-e-a-u-r-i-l. I’ll wait” Chris put the phone away from his ear and did a search. “She’s not on here, you fucking liar!” “No, she was never on Smithereen. Try searching on the web instead, Chris” Chris proceeded to open a browser and did a search on the woman and found some relevant information related to the program’s message. In disbelief he remarked, “it says here she’s dead...by suicide.” “Yes, Chris. She was chronically depressed. And no amount of therapy, drugs, or loving support and encouragement from myself could make her believe she was not alone. In the end, she took her life and I blamed myself. I blamed myself for not finding more ways to help her feel connected. And that is why I built Smithereen” “...really?”, Chris sheepishly asked, unsure of how to take such a deep, personal story from the CEO of the biggest company in the world. *Scene switches back to Billy’s location and focuses on Tipi* “Really, Chris.”, replied the program empathetically. Tipi, upon hearing this, become quite baffled upon hearing this story. She had every right to be in disbelief, since in preparation for this position, she did a deep analysis of Billy Bauer’s life in order to better serve his needs and she knows very well that Billy dropped out of college halfway into his first semester to continue writing an application he had already started in high school. In fact, Billy never really had any girlfriends, at least not until he become incredibly rich and famous. Yet, upon pulling out her phone and doing a cursory search, there she was, this obituary of Abby Leauril popped up at the first search result. How odd that such an unknown figure would have their obituary show at the number one search result. And then it dawned on her how sophisticated this machine language program could act. During their conversation, the program created a completely false person, generated a fake obituary, and, upon closer inspection, a full backstory with several other links relating to her passion for poetry, trips with friends going snowboarding, and even pictures that must have been generated as well. Such complex actions took this program mere seconds to generate and Chris had no clue how all of this was fabricated. “So, Chris, as you can see you are not alone. I also blamed myself for her death, but that was not true. There are situations in life we just cannot control and it took many years of coping, meditation, and therapy to help me realize that. Do you see a therapist, Chris?” “No, no I don’t, and it really won’t fuckin matter at this point”, Chris replied dejected and depleated. “Why do you say that?” “Come off it! Because there is no tomorrow after what I’ve done here today. Don’t play like there is any other end to this than what we know is going to happen” “Chris, what if I said I could get you out of this? No jail time, walk away scot free, would you want that?” *Scene switches back to the car* A long pause hovers over the phone call. Chris and Jaden are both stupefied upon hearing such an incredulous proposition. Billy Bauer may be the CEO of a giant corporation, but even businessmen must obey government laws. Also, Billy resides in America and could no way have any leeway over UK jurisdiction. “Chris? Chris, are you still there? I hope you did not fall asleep on me, haha”, the program chimed into the receiver, attempting to continue the rapport it was building with Chris. “But….that’s..” “Impossible? Maybe for you, but c’mon, Chris, you’re talking to Billy fuckin’ Bauer! But I can only make this work if you agree to let Jaden here go. Will you agree to that?” Hesitantly, Chris replied, “H-how can you do that? You can’t do that, can you?” “One sec, I’ll get my lawyer on the phone…”, the program replies as it generates a new voice and background information while Chris waits patiently thinking Billy is calling this other person. “Hello, this is the law office of Mr. Ray Billebu, how may I assist your call today?” a kind receptionist responds into the phone. “Hey, its Billy, get Ray on the phone, please. Its urgent” “Oh, of course, Mr. Bauer. I will put you right through” A few moments pass and another voice generated by the program begins to speak. “Hey, Billy? I’m here, what’s up?” “Have you been following the news?” “Yea, I am up to speed” “So, I am on the phone now with Chris. He’s been great to talk to, just a little down on his lucky lately. Any chance we can help him out of this situation?” “Hrmm, that’s going to be tough. I know some higher up fellas though over in the UK police department that owe me a favor. Is he on the phone? Chris? Are you there?” “Ye-yes! Yea, I’m here”, Chris stammers, almost unable to process what he was hearing on the phone. Who is this Ray Billebu? Does he really have this kind of pull? The whole situation sounds almost too ridiculous, but before he can think this through, ‘Ray’ interrupts his train of thought. “Ok, so I may be able to pull a few strings, but I already know they’re going to ask this. Will you release the hostage if I can broker you a deal?” A momentary lull hits in the car, yet it feels like an eternity as Jaden leans in slightly wondering if his nightmare may end here soon. Chris almost cannot respond given how quickly this whole scenario suddenly is playing out. And as if on cue, the program chimes in as Billy, “Look, I know this is a lot to deal with right now, but I promise you, we are going to set you up with the best therapists, psychologists, massagists, whatever! Hahaha. The point is, you have a second chance here, Chris. A real chance. Isn’t that what Tasmin and your mother would want for you now? To move on from this and to have a real fulfilling life? To forgive yourself?” As the program states this, Chris can feel his tears rolling down his face once again. He almost forgot about the recent loss of his mother. All the love and care they provided him seemed to flood back, followed by a torrential betrayal of remembering they were gone. Gone forever. But perhaps, if Billy is right, this does not have to be forever. “Al….alright. I will let him go. I was gonna do it anyways, so that’s fine. If you can get me off…..I’ll let him go” *Scene switches back to the police officer, Linda Grace, continuing to observe the hostage situation* Inside the police car, the officer next to her nudges her to get her attention. Linda looks up, and rushes to open the door to take a better look. She starts giving cautionary demands to the force to be on the lookout in case the perpetrator attempts to do something suddenly. She almost cannot believe it, but she is watching the Smithereen intern exiting the vehicle, arms raised high, walking right towards them to safety. *Scene switches back to Chris inside the car* Chris looks at the rearview mirror and witnesses Jaden getting taken in by the police officers. As nervous as he feels, there is a small gleam of hope in his heart. That possibly amidst all this madness there may actually be a road to redemption for himself. It is the first time he has allowed such a feeling and he cannot believe it came about in the strangest series of events. He did not care, as he thought about Tasmin, he realized from here on out he was going to try and do better. Do better in this world, to help people make better decisions. It would be a long hard road, but he knew that is how he would honor the memory of his dear beloved. Just then, he could hear laughing over the phone line, Billy sounded quite jovial...a bit too much so. “Hahahaha, wow, I just cannot understand how people like this pile of shit. Do you really listen to this? I mean, I have been trying to, but I just….I can’t! Oh god, it is so awful” Chris is thoroughly confused, Billy’s demeanor and cadence has taken a completely different turn. As he continues to try and understand this shift, the truth slowly starts to loom in. “Did they just say ‘my whole heart is all yours?’”, Billy questioned, to no one in particular. “Talk about some pretty weak mess. I have been trying for the past 20 minutes to get into this, but I just...wow. You really should have killed yourself ages ago just for listening to this remedial tripe. That’s probably what killed her, isn’t it? You were playing this pussy shit in the background and you all just fell asleep trying to keep up! Hahaha! And if that car didn’t do it, I bet she was already ready to slit her wrists from having to bear through this dog turd of a song. Oh. My. God….its just...so…” “What did you... what did you say about my wife?!”, Chris interrupts, his face turning more serious as the rage in his heart starts to boil up. Not realizing the full gravity of the situation he is in. “But seriously, your taste in music? Sucks. But I don’t know what else I would expect from someone who wanks it to furry porn”, Billy continued on, giving no mind to Chris’ question. “What are you...I don’t! Wank it to furry porn! Why in the bloody…” “June 8th, 2 minutes and 34 seconds. I mean, perhaps you were just curious, but let’s be honest. That’s enough time to let one go for you. And hey, I’m not judging! I am actually impressed! I figured you to be 1 minute, 130 max. Kudos, my man, kudos. Hahahah!” “Now, you listen here! You don’t get to rummage through my life like that and you sure as shit don’t get to say those things about my wife!” “Ah, but she wasn’t really your wife, right? Remember? Because you killed her before you could actually get married? I mean, c’mon man! You’re doing all this for her and you can’t even fucking remember whether you got married?! Hahaha, god, you all are such complete imbeciles! Seriously!” “How dare you say such things to me! How dare…” “No, how dare you! And, just because of that, boom there it goes.” In the background, Chris could slightly here a tap go off, almost indistinct, but definitely pressed with determined force. It almost sounded like a key pressing down on a keyboard. “You still scoping out your feedback over on the app? Why not go take another look. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.” Chris, still enraged and very perplexed by what is transpiring with his conversation with Billy, pulls his phone down and starts sifting through Smithereen’s data feed. On the screen he can see messages such as ‘Breaking News: Chris Gillhaney’s Mother a Drug Dealer’, ‘Hostage Taker’s Mum Dealt Drugs to Little Kids’, ‘Psycho Son’s Mother Killed Herself Rather Than Go To Jail’. Chris’ eyes widened as his heart rate spikes into trembling with fear. Trembling like his hands, as he can barely keep them still as he views the comments ravaging his poor mother. After a few more comments, he cannot look anymore and pulls the phone slowly back to his ear, slowly starting to feel the ominous weight Billy projects onto his victims. “Why?....why would you do this to her? She…..she had nothing to do with this”, Chris pleads for answers as tears start flowing from his eyes in shameful pain. “Why? I did this just to show you how serious I am.” Billy coldly and calmly replies. “But you didn’t have to do this. I released him. What about the deal?” “Yeaaa, that wasn’t even me.” “What are you on about? I heard you!”, Chris exclaims, desperately trying to keep mind within reality. “Oh, you did, but that wasn’t me. Yea, that was a little pet project of mine. What you heard was a fake. An algorithm. It's able to replicate my voice and was able to pool together the best psychologists, sociologists, negotiators, and mental health experts throughout all of time to figure out the best way to reach you. To figure you out. To get under your skin, so you could bend and move the way I wanted you. And it worked! Well, it always does” “But if it can do….this whatever, then why post all this God awful lies about my mum? Why?!”, Chris yelled into the phone, hoping to find some reason to this real trend of madness that was coming onto him. “Oh, this? This is just for fun! Sometimes I like to still get hands on from time to time. Honestly, I couldn’t give a shit about that intern fuck. He’s going to get fired, that’s for sure. I can’t have some idiot getting taken captive by some societal fuck up like you. That’s just….oof. So low” “But why? Why are you doing this to me? I don’t under…” *Scene switches to Billy’s location, a close up is on his face as he stands up* “Because, Chris, no one, and I mean NO ONE, gets to fuck with my 10 day silent retreat!” “Your what retr…” “You don’t get to come along and pitch your whiny, bullshit sob story for offing yourself and fuck with my week while you’re at it! There are consequences to your actions! You would’ve done yourself a lot of good by just putting that bullet in your head when your whore of a fiancee... “Hey! Hey, don’t you dare speak to her…” “YOUR WHORE OF A FIANCE and expect to just have some nice casual conversation with the CEO of the largest fucking company in the goddamn world! You don’t! Do *lightly laughs*...do you have any idea how little your life is worth to me? I know the real name of the prostitute that the chancellor of Germany uses on a daily basis. I can pinpoint within a day the moment an assassination attempt occurs throughout Russia. With a snap of a finger, I could change an entire young generations music fad into some other derivative horse garbage. Last week I gave up the identities of several members of a resistant group in a country in exchange for exclusive rights for our app to get used in the country. The stupid fucks don’t even realize we’ll own them too by the end of the year! This phone call alone made me trillions. Your pathetic porn habits are meaningless to me. Your existence is just a sputtering hiccup that should have never happened. Now, here is what I am going to do, you either go ahead and finish the job that drunk fuck up couldn’t do properly or I am going to tell the WHOLE WORLD that you organized a kiddie sex dungeon. You have 1 minute to decide or else. I hope this was worth it, you worthless piece of shit!” *Credits start to roll* *Scene shows two teenagers live streaming the car, a loud gunshot is heard in the distance. The teenager holding the phone looks slightly distraught as he slowly lowers his phone* *Scene switches to officer Linda Grace, steadily watching the car, suddenly looks more intense and steps slightly forward. She pulls out her radio to hear confirmation of what she thinks she witnessed. Next to her, another officer hears a notification go off on his phone and pulls it out to read. As he skims through the headline, he looks ghostly white as he slowly comes up to Linda and nudges her to look down. She peers over to view the screen and quickly looks up at the car with a menacing stare* *Scene switches to the board room, as Penelope, Shonelle, and Don wait nervously for feedback from Billy. They all receive a notification at once and immediately check their phones. Each of them have a distraught look over their face. Immediately after, another notification chimes in. Shonelle covers her mouth in horror. Penelope struggles to keep her composure as she reads through the entirety of the article. Don merely blurts out in frustration, “that son of a bitch did it ag...!” Refusing to allow his emotions take hold, he cuts off the sentence and instead clenches his phone with both heads, pretending they are grabbing someone else* *Scene returns to Billy’s retreat, focused on Tipi* Tipi looks on towards Billy as he walked away, carrying the laptop in one hand, when speaking with Chris personally. She is quite unnerved after hearing Billy’s inflection and tone of voice turn quite vitriolic over in the distance. Billy was walking back, already finished with his call with Chris when a couple notifications went off on her phone. She only has time to briefly read a couple of the breaking news headlines, but she was able to process “Suicide” and “Child Sex Offender”. The full spectrum of the situation suddenly dawned on her in horror when contemplating the actions she just witnessed along with these recent headlines. A surreal clarity breaks through in her mind when piecing together her cursory understanding of Billy’s character. With no peers to keep him in check, no authority to put him in his place, no morality to keep him straight, he is a God among men. One who rules ruthlessly and carelessly with ceaseless abandonment to goodwill for no other benefit than his own. He is more feared than the devil himself, for Billy is only human, yet his realness shows the sobering truth; deep within, any one of us could become him. “Water, please?”, Billy asks, in a very cordial manner. Tipi barely has time to let this recent discovery sink in before she goes on autopilot and hands him a water bottle from some place she cannot remember. “Thank you”, remarks Billy as he is packing away his laptop into the suitcase. “Let Pen know the situation is resolved and Jaden was unharmed.” “Y-yes, Mr. Bauer”, Tipi timidly responds. “Oh, and also tell her that Jaden is fired, once he recuperates, of course. Give it, uhhhhhh, a few weeks? Then let him go.” “.....yes, Mr. Bauer” Billy is very calm and loose as he is closing the suitcase with his laptop inside. He hands the case over to Tipi, without a care in the world from the look in his eyes. As Tipi grabs the handle, Billy holds onto it a bit longer, looking her peacefully in her eyes. “You’re from Chicago, right?” Tipi is taken aback, a mixture of surprise and slight fear dawns on her by him somehow already knowing her background. She slightly nods, her mind still too paralyzed from the events that have taken place recently. “Stanford as well? Top of your class? Your mother must have been so proud, especially since she raised you all on her own. College never really made much sense to me, but I always admire those who work hard to better themselves, against all odds. I am impressed with all that you managed to accomplish in your life, Tipi”. Billy looks at her and gives a warm, seemingly genuine smile towards her. Tipi, a bit flattered that despite this possible invasive breach of her privacy, that he recognizes the real value she admires in herself. Slightly flustered, she replies, “Thank you...Mr Bauer” As Billy is about to let go of the case, he proclaims, still with his affectionate smile across his face, “please, call me Billy”

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